We Need More Lawyers

Shakespeare wrote in Henry VI, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Even as a practicing attorney, I can empathize.  As I like to say, ninety-nine percent of attorneys give the rest of us a bad name.  Or there’s my other favorite attorney joke, “What do attorneys use for birth control?  Their personalities.” But joking aside, the Shakespeare quote is often misinterpreted. In fact, many have argued that the villain in Henry VI proposed killing all the lawyers because they ensure the rule of law exists, that is a fair system where people understand the rules and are held accountable to follow said rules. In other words, we need lawyers for the system to work.  And I’d submit to you that one of the reasons why the EMS system isn’t working is precisely because we need more lawyers.

As I stated above, lawyers make sure the rules are understood and followed.  All too often in EMS, that doesn’t happen.  In EMS, people make arbitrary decisions that are rarely applied fairly, much less with an understanding of the law.  In the National Registry testing and renewal process, I’ve heard and witnessed stories of various EMS functionaries refusing to sign renewal paperwork, all without giving an explanation of why.  The National Registry even has a process for a former paramedic to recertify provided certain conditions are met, including obtaining the signature of your state’s EMS director.  In Texas, a previous state EMS director refused to engage in this process based on the vague claim that he did not believe he had “authority” to sign the document.  Again, an EMS provider harmed by an arbitrary and probably incorrect view of the law.

Another example of EMS arbitrariness routinely comes up with state licensing laws, particularly relating to reciprocity, the process of moving your certification from one state to another.  More than one state has laws and regulations requiring state residency and/or employment prior to granting reciprocity. The problem is that such a requirement appears to fly in the face of legal precedent established by the United States Supreme Court in the case Supreme Court of New Hampshire v. Piper, 470 U.S. 274 (1985).  In the Piper case, the Supreme Court found that a New Hampshire state law requiring one to be a resident of their state before being admitted to practice law was unconstitutional.  The parallel to several states requiring state residency and/or employment for EMS reciprocity is striking, yet EMS continues to ignore it, either from sheer ignorance or perhaps believing that EMS is “special enough” that a Supreme Court case might not apply to it.

Much of my day as an attorney is spent counseling clients on what the law means, how it applies, and how we can use the law to mitigate risks. In EMS, we routinely seem unwilling to seek such guidance, preferring instead to rely on “we already know what a lawyer is going to tell us.” We see this all the time with policies. The classic examples in EMS often seem to revolve around HIPAA. People routinely use HIPAA as an excuse for failing to get patient follow-up or why EMS can’t see transfer paperwork.  EMS managers routinely sign contracts and make personnel decisions without the benefit of legal counsel and may end up subjecting themselves and/or their employers to liability as a result.

Even with education, EMS “leaders” are often unaware of the regulatory and legal hurdles that may exist with the current push toward EMS degrees. Namely, most of the accrediting organizations that accredit colleges and universities require that college faculty possess a terminal degree in their academic field. This oversight may, again, be an example of EMS “leaders” not seeking the counsel they need.

Finally, EMS needs lawyers to keep our profession honest and to uphold standards. The latest viral video on EMS social media is of two South Carolina EMTs appearing to refuse to treat or care for a patient lacking the adequate mental capacity to make a decision. At some point, a lawyer needed to be involved, whether in the initial EMS education process to teach actual medical-legal concepts as opposed to myths and urban legends, providing legal advice as to capacity and refusals, or in the aftermath of liability or licensure.

I’ve had very little overlap between my legal career and my volunteer work in EMS.  (Having said that, if you have the ideal position that combines both, I’m open to discuss…) However, for EMS to grow and develop as a profession, we need more lawyers, not less.  EMS needs the protection that lawyers provide, both from risks outside the profession and in many cases, from ourselves.

What does the patient/client want?

I’m trying to put some complex and jumbled thoughts into words here, so bear with me. As some of you may know, I’ve dealt a ton with health issues for various family members over the years, especially over the last few months. One thing that I’ve seemed to notice is that too many people in healthcare think they’re helping when they’re substituting their own wishes and priorities for that of the patient and their loved ones. Further, many professionals in both medicine and law forget that the patient/client and their families have a life outside of and in addition to the matter currently being addressed. The outside world rarely pauses and often refuses to pause so that a patient/client or their family can reschedule the outside world at a moment’s notice all because someone feels that their little niche or agenda has to be addressed right this minute.

As a result, the patient and their family feel that the providers of all kinds, whether physician, nurse, therapist, or case manager, are dictating to them rather than caring for them. It can easily make the patient and family feel as if they have no control over matters relating to their care. Example: “You have to be here for a very meeting. Today.” Reality: Here’s the same discharge plan that we’ve been discussing for several weeks. 
 
People often feel an absolute loss of control of their care and their wishes. And when people feel they’ve lost control of their own affairs and that their wishes aren’t being heard, they’ll find another way to ensure they’re heard, whether in court or in filing a complaint with a regulatory agency. The nature of our healthcare and legal systems being what it is, the courtroom or administrative complaint is the only way that some clients/patients and their families feel that they will be heard.  (Free legal advice: it takes a lot less time and money to be nice up front and explain things early than it does to answer a lawsuit or an administrative complaint.)
 
Part of being a professional is in recognizing that the patient/client still maintains autonomy – the right to make their own decisions. Your job is, within the confines of the law and ethics, to help that patient meet their stated needs and goals. Being a professional means giving a patient/client the services and all of the information they need to make a good decision, then abiding by that decision and putting the patient/client first.  Heck, even as a lawyer, clients go against advice all of the time. Look how many criminal defendants insist on testifying in their own defense.  Look how many DWI suspects agree to take field sobriety tests and take the breathalyzer, even though they’re basically giving the evidence to convict themselves.  As I like to remind professionals of all sorts, people have the right to make bad decisions.  Fundamentally though, as a professional, we exist to provide services to our patients/clients in accordance with their wishes. 
 
This should ring true whether it’s medicine or law. And it’s a good prescription for limiting your involvement with lawyers to represent you. As another EMS colleague of mine says, “We can suggest, but forcing patients to do what they don’t want buys lawyers nice cars.”

EMS is OUR Profession

Here’s a great example of what’s wrong with EMS. This morning, I was looking at the webpage for the EMS For Children Improvement and Innovation Center project being administered by Texas Children’s Hospital. The webpage identified twenty-eight staff members assigned to the project.

Of these staff members, only one of them is identified as a paramedic and he’s actually a full-time employee of the state EMS office. The majority of those identified with healthcare backgrounds were either physicians or nurses. We need to quit letting EMS be defined and controlled by people who aren’t in EMS. This is the equivalent of having a bunch of paramedics define oncology care because they do transports.

The truth is that there are EMS professionals with the educational background to be involved in developing the future of EMS and determining our professional identity. There are paramedics with master’s degrees in a variety of fields ranging from the hard sciences to education to public health to administrative fields like business administration, public administration, and healthcare administration.  The National Registry even funds two EMS professionals per year to get a graduate degree in an EMS related field. There is NO reason not to have more than a token EMS presence on committees that define who we are and what we do as a profession.

Instead, through a combination of our own apathy and aggressive encroachment by other fields (cough, nursing, cough), we allow our profession’s path to be charted by those without a real stake in EMS and not necessarily with EMS’s best interests in the forefront. The nursing advocates regularly say that EMS providers shouldn’t do anything that approaches nursing and believe that nursing represents a higher level of education and skill sets.  However, these same nurses readily encroach on the EMS field and insert themselves on almost every committee that determines EMS education and practice.  Try advocating for an EMS professional to even have a seat on a committee regarding the hospital emergency department or the ICU and prepare for the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

A lot of really smart people in EMS regularly advocate for EMS being represented within the US Department of Health and Human Services.  Personally, I believe this will continue the trend of EMS having little, if any, voice of its own.  After many years as a government lawyer, I’ve realized that those who call the shots in the health and human services bureaucracies usually have a nursing and/or a public health background.  I can virtually guarantee that putting EMS in the health and human services system will ensure that nursing and public health controls who we are and what we do.  An EMS office within the HHS bureaucracy will be little more than a token voice that will be run over roughshod by the nurses, public health professionals, and various other “stakeholders” that truly have no stake in EMS.

We have got to control our professional identity and that begins with paramedics being involved in the administration and development of our profession. It’s time to demand that those that define and determine what EMS is at least have an idea of what happens on an ambulance.

All Politics Is Local: Or an EMS Labor Union and the Kerfuffle

There’s been a lot of discussion on EMS social media about the contract between the City of Austin and the Austin/Travis County EMS Employees’ Association (AKA: The Union) lapsing. I’m not a medic for ATCEMS, but I feel compelled to wade in as an Austin resident, a paramedic, a public sector employee, a friend of many of the medics in the system, and as someone who was a first responder within the system. I’m going to give this my best effort and will probably not gain any friends as a result. But that’s ok – as the old joke goes – lawyers have feelings.  Allegedly.

This is a system that’s had issues for a while. And this isn’t solely a greedy public employees’ union issue.  Nor is it an issue of terrible management. The truth be told, it’s a horrendous combination of lousy union leadership and equally inept city leadership.  The union leadership has sold its membership one scheme after another as the “one big fix” to the challenges of working in EMS.  I remember several years ago when there was entirely different leadership at the union, EMS management, and even city management.  A paramedic ran for the union presidency on a promise of replacing the current (at that time) 56 hour work week of 24 hours on and 48 hours off with a guaranteed 48 hour work week – for the same pay.  Needless to say, neither EMS nor city management were enamored with the idea of cutting hours for the same pay.  Then the union president raised the issue of “safety.”  That’s an issue that, once raised, can’t be recalled. At that point, the city hired a consulting firm to examine EMS scheduling and the determination was made that many of the stations were too busy to be on 24 hour schedules.  To this date, scheduling and station assignments remain one of the biggest challenges at ATCEMS. A variety of schedules have been tried and active fatigue management policies are now in place.  While the fatigue management policies are welcome and needed (especially after the death of a respected ATCEMS captain who fell asleep while driving), the reality is that all of the scheduling fixes fail to address the underlying problem – a busy EMS system that does not have sufficient staffing or crews, especially in the areas of highest call volume in the center of the city.

The call volume in central Austin also impacts other parts of the system.  Many of the ambulances from the other parts of Austin have to transport to hospitals in central/downtown Austin.  Once those trucks become available as they leave the hospital, they are assigned calls in central/downtown Austin.  The crews call this “getting sucked into the vortex.” Meanwhile, the more outlying areas of the city are without their ambulance – all because no one recognizes the 800 pound gorilla in the room – the central part of Austin with its socioeconomic demographics, the entertainment district in downtown, and two homeless shelters less than two blocks from the entertainment district.  The solution was, is, and remains additional EMS resources in central/downtown Austin.  No other solution is a solution.

And let’s talk about the outlying areas some. Pretty much since the EMS system was created in Austin, Austin has supplied paramedic-level transport for all of Travis County.  Each of the fire departments in Travis County (including Austin FD) have provided first responder services under the protocols and medical direction of ATCEMS. In THEORY, ATCEMS protocols allow for the “credentialing” of these fire departments’ advanced/intermediate EMTs and paramedics to function at their state certification level. The reality is that the credentialing process is very similar (and probably rightfully so) to the field training process that ATCEMS medics go through to be “credentialed” for independent practice.  In actuality, the process exists largely on paper. The process is too long and involved for many departments to commit an employee for this extended period.  And it serves ATCEMS to limit the number of providers above the EMT level.  As a result of this process, its lack of transparency and clear standards, and the underlying motives in limiting the number of advanced providers, ATCEMS has alienated many of the fire departments in the county.  Pflugerville was alienated to the point of creating its own fire-based EMS system and completely separating from ATCEMS.  Two other departments have their own medical direction now for paramedic-level first response.  This failure reflects right back on both ATCEMS leadership and ATCEMS union leadership.  In fact, one union president told Pflugerville that his job was to protect his members. Granted, it’s probably the truth, but at least be politic enough to couch it in terms of patient safety, patient care, and patient outcomes.

If management deals in good faith with employees, there’s little hue and cry for a union, much less civil service protections. Witness the number of Japanese auto plants in the US where workers have actively rejected unionization attempts by the United Auto Workers.  ATCEMS has had a history of employee discontent and morale issues.  I know paramedics from the early 1990s who complained about being assigned to a mandatory overtime shift at the busiest station in the system (and one of the busiest in the US) right after working that same station for the previous 24 hours. As the morale problems continued and several provider suicides occurred, Austin’s previous medical director was replaced by a new medical director who came in from the outside.  One of his first of many arrogant moves was to push for ATCEMS to hire EMTs because he believed that there are too many paramedics in EMS and he didn’t believe there was evidence to support advanced life support providers.  This mindset was that of a physician who seemed to define EMS success by cardiac arrest statistics alone. A new “Medic I” position was created where anyone with an EMT certification or higher would be eligible to apply.  After a period of 1-2 years as a “Medic I,” those with a paramedic certification would be eligible to promote to the “Medic II” position as a paramedic-level provider. Needless to say, this change increased the workload on system-credentialed paramedic providers and also turned off many experienced providers from applying to work for ATCEMS.

While ATCEMS has since replaced the medical director with a much more progressive and aggressive medical director from the Houston area, the Medic I/Medic II model is now virtually codified as a result of ATCEMS moving to civil service. As a result of the continued workplace discontent, the latest “solution” from the union was “civil service.” Civil service would provide for state laws (or a negotiated contract with the city) to govern employee relations including hiring, promotions, and discipline. It has also codified a management team and culture where, other than the department director and medical director, all promotions are from within the department.  And this is a department that is so insular that it still believes its own PR machine about how progressive it is.  In fact, until the mid 2000s, the ATCEMS patch still had “System of the Year 1985” on it.  While other EMS systems have added paralytics for intubation and multiple other drugs and interventions, the bureaucratic inertia of ATCEMS has turned the previous clinical excellence into just another large urban EMS system, albeit without the requirement to become a firefighter. And just like most fire departments where the IAFF rules the roost, the union was created as a result of management strife, but requires on continued strife to justify “this is why we need a union.”

And now the employees are without a contract.  And “this is why we need a union.”  And so it goes.

Part of being a clinician

Today, I heard from a good friend of mine who happens to be a good paramedic out of state.  They were telling me about issues with a family member who’s in the hospital and in poor condition.  Part of this involved the communication from the hospitalist who asked if the family member had a do not resuscitate order because the family member in question is “very sick” and without a DNR order, the patient’s ribs would be broken during CPR and “her insides would be messed up.”

I’ve dealt with similar conversations before both as a medical provider and as a family member.  Without going into my rant against hospitalists (who don’t know the patient outside of the hospital, rarely have an idea as to the patient’s baseline, and are often the bottom of barrel clinically and academically), this is completely unacceptable.

However, I will say that this is how people in medicine get sued. Not because their medicine hurt or helped. But because they have zero idea how to communicate with people. There are way too many physicians who have a pure science background and see patients as lab values on paper. They see patients and their families as a distraction. Likewise, there are way too many in EMS who are bitter because they were promised a chance to race the reaper and save lives and taking care of sick people isn’t “what they signed up for.” I am far from religious and definitely not Christian, but the verse from the Gospel of Matthew says it all. “I was sick and you visited me.” Ultimately, that’s what being a clinician is about. Taking care of sick people. Not flashing lights or even geeking out over lab values. And caring (and dare I say ministering) for the sick means caring for their family too.

I see way too many physicians who have a gift for the sciences and not a gift for communication.  I see way too many in EMS who can improvise a solution to make MacGyver proud but who make Chuck Norris look sensitive and compassionate. Medicine is not a pure science, no matter what anyone says.  It’s a profession.  Whether you’re a brand new EMT or a tenured medical school professor with subspecialty certification, you’re a professional using your scientific knowledge to solve human problems.  And human problems require interacting with humans.  Part of that interaction means communicating with other people, not all of whom you may like or who you may think are as smart as you are or even worth your time.

And the human factor in any profession, especially including medicine, is why professions aren’t mere sciences.  Yes, there’s a ton of science in medicine.  It is the foundation for much of what we do.  But we apply this knowledge to help others.  And helping others goes significantly beyond acid-base balances, covalent bonds, thermodynamics, or gas laws. It’s about demonstrating a bit of compassion and empathy.

You don’t necessarily learn those things in a science lab.  You learn them from interacting with others.  You learn these things in a liberal arts classroom where your views about the world are challenged, where you learn to defend your views, where you learn to maybe change your views, and most importantly, where you learn to communicate and get along with others.

Medicine — at any level — is ultimately a people profession.  If you’re not comfortable with people, you’re not likely to succeed.  It’s why EMS clinical evaluations are supposed to include an “affective domain” aspect.  And this is why I think that the constant drumbeat for more “science” classes in EMS also needs to be tempered with more classes in English, psychology, sociology, history, geography, and management.  In other words, being a solid clinician requires understanding people as much as it does the science.

And to add in my legal advice, people rarely know if you’re good at what you do.  They do know whether or not you’re nice to them.  And many of these cases of being “not nice” often involve poor or failed communications with the patient and/or their family.  Learning how to talk to others, whether to get information or to persuade, was a significant part of my education as a legal professional.  It needs to be a significant part of our EMS education as well — and that means more than rapidly brushing through the mnemonics of “SAMPLE” and “OPQRST.”  It means active listening and then incorporating that information with your scientific knowledge to actually care for your patient.

That’s what being a professional is about. That’s what being a clinician is about.  It’s not about the flashing lights.  It’s not about the lab values.  It’s not about an obscure EKG finding.  It is about caring for others.  Period.

Why The Advice Is Rarely Free

Anyone who knows me (especially on Facebook) knows how much I rant about giving free legal advice.  To be more exact, I rant at the expectation that some in EMS have that they are entitled to ask me for free legal advice.  (But Wes, it’s just a quick question!)  That would be the same as asking an EMT who does transfers to give my dad a free ride to a doctor’s appointment, because, after all, it’s just a quick ride over to that clinic on the other side of town. As I’ve said more than once, I’m a volunteer paramedic, not a volunteer lawyer.

Kidding and ranting aside, I do get it, at least somewhat.  For a lot of us who are attorneys, we may be the only attorney that our friends know.  And I think that may be even more the case in EMS.

Law pays my bills and EMS keeps me sane. (Think on that one for a while.) Having said that, I need a law license to pay my bills and those things that could potentially jeopardize my license are things I typically try to avoid. Just like in EMS or any other licensed profession, as a lawyer, I’m subject to certain legal and ethical obligations. In my case, as a Texas attorney, my ground rules are largely set by what our State Bar refers to as the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.

Generally speaking, my obligations to you start once an attorney-client relationship is established. I would refer you to Part 10 of the Preamble of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct which states, in part, “Most of the duties flowing from the client-lawyer relationship attach only after the client has requested the lawyer to render legal services and the lawyer has agreed to do so.” In other words, if I’m providing you legal advice, the attorney-client relationship may well exist and I’m under all of those professional, ethical, and legal obligations.  Even if it’s “just a quick question,” please understand and respect me when I say that you need to seek legal counsel. After all, “legal services” constitutes what I do.  I’ve heard a few folks say, “Well, I’m just asking your opinion since you’re also a medic.”  If that’s the case, why was I picked out of every EMS provider you know to provide guidance on a legal question?

Please understand that another one of my obligations as an attorney is to only provide representation on matters that I’m competent in. Rule 1.01 states, again, in part, “A lawyer shall not accept or continue employment in a legal matter which the lawyer knows or should know is beyond the lawyer’s competence…”  I primarily do administrative law and government contracts.  I know about EMS law because it’s a field that’s near and dear to my heart personally.  That doesn’t mean that I know anything about your child custody, your speeding ticket, or your Aunt Erma’s will.  It’s the same as expecting your orthopedic surgeon to read an EKG.  Sure, they’re licensed and permitted to do such, but would you really trust their opinion?  More importantly, would you trust an orthopedic surgeon who’s actually willing to read and interpret an EKG?

As I’ve said more than once when discussing legal issues, both the underlying facts of the case as well as the laws of the jurisdiction make a huge difference in providing legal advice or in answering a question.  That’s why most of us who are lawyers have a favorite answer — it depends. Also, because lawyers need all of the facts and to find out the relevant law, it’s rarely just a short answer that we can give quickly. When you combine this with the duties that attach to an attorney-client relationship, you can hopefully understand why I’m loathe to wade into a social media debate about the law.  These debates often become a debate about what the law should be rather than what the law is.  If you want to change what the law is to your version of what the law should be, the political process exists for that very reason.

Also, just like I wouldn’t ask or expect my EMS friends and colleagues in Vegas to come to Texas and immediately start practicing as medics, please understand that my law license is issued by Texas.  I can provide legal advice in Texas — and no other state until or unless I apply to become licensed in another state.  As there’s no National Registry of Lawyers, the reciprocity process for attorneys (if it’s even granted in other states) tends to be a bit more complex and expensive. Otherwise, I end up taking another state’s bar exam to get admitted.  For reference, the Texas Bar Exam is offered twice a year and is a two and a half day exam.  That explains, at least in part, why the Registry exam didn’t seem like too much of a hurdle in comparison.

When I get tagged into or dragged into these debates online, it creates a dilemma for me and my fellow medic-lawyers. One colleague of mine recently noted to me that replying to “Facebook lawyers” puts us in an awkward position because even replying to or arguing with their positions, even when clearly and blatantly wrong, could be construed as providing legal advice. And when it’s about a specific instance, that’s even more likely to be considered providing legal advice — which is the practice of law.

Hopefully, these thoughts give you a better understanding of my mindset about not wanting to give legal advice, even if it’s “just a quick question;” why I like to say “it depends;” and why I recommend you get legal counsel of your own if you do have a question.  In Texas, our State Bar offers a lawyer referral service to find legal counsel.  For EMS issues affecting your liability or license, insurance coverage is available which may include legal representation.

I love our EMS community (ok,  most of the time) and I am always in favor of EMS providers being better educated on the laws and regulations that affect our practice.  However, please understand that while I am a lawyer, I am not your lawyer.  And for those of you who I’ve actually given “free” advice to, I hope you might understand and appreciate what exactly is involved when I do that. Being a lawyer is as much a part of my identity as being a medic — and both are a form of public trust that I sincerely value and hope to maintain.

 

A Time To NOT Volunteer

If you know me or you’ve come by this blog a few times, you know I’m very passionate about the role of volunteers in the world of emergency services, particularly in the fire and EMS world.  Today marks a change.  One, I’m about to give some very broad, generic “free” legal advice.  Two, I’m about to tell you NOT to volunteer.

Event medical standbys. At least in Texas, those fall into a massive loophole where they’re not subject to any regulation from the state. In Texas, transport providers (officially called “EMS Providers”) and “first responder organizations” are subject to state regulatory requirements.  Because event medical standbys don’t fit into Texas’s definition of EMS Provider or First Responder Organization, they’re completely outside the purview of our state EMS regulatory system.

These events always say “BLS only” or “CPR/first aid” but seem to recruit heavily from the ranks of EMS providers. If they truly only want “BLS” or layperson aid, why are they recruiting so heavily from EMS?  Simple.  They want EMS providers on site, but they’ve gotten some legal or risk management advice to not call it an “EMS standby.”  They think that by saying it’s only first aid that their liability will somehow be limited.  Truth be told, I’m not sure if it would or wouldn’t be limited.  But I know this much from law school — anyone that can be sued will be sued, both collectively and individually.  While you may not end up being found liable, I can guarantee that will not protect you from either a suit or the lawyer’s bills to represent you.  (Speaking of which, you do have your own EMS liability insurance to protect you and provide for legal representation, don’t you?)

This is the closest you’ll ever get to free legal advice from me. Just say no. You’re unlikely covered by any medical direction or protocols, which begs the question of what you’re doing there and whether you’re practicing “medicine” or delivering EMS care. And if all they want is “BLS” or first aid, why are they asking you to be there by virtue of you holding an EMS certification? I’ve helped at these events before and it feels very odd to be there without the ability to function at your certification level, assuming they’ve even verified your certification.

In the very best case, you’re probably going to be poorly equipped.  You’re even more likely to be expected to supply your own gear. And I will virtually guarantee that if something bad happens, you will be on your own. The worst part? Many of these events are for profit. Those that aren’t are usually run by nonprofits that have plenty of money for everything besides real EMS coverage. Many of these so-called event medicine companies have a business model based on you being an “independent contractor,” meaning that they’ll throw you to the sharks and claim that they had no oversight of you.  In other words, helping some of these events out for free as a “volunteer” isn’t much better than offering to drive Lyft or Uber for free.

If you truly want to “feel good” by volunteering, get a t-shirt, and/or be thanked for your service, there’s probably a volunteer service within an hour’s drive of you that would actually benefit from your volunteer hours. To me, it’s really ironic is how many paid firefighters/EMTs jump at the chance to work at these events and then say how volunteering “holds back the profession” and artificially lowers salaries.  If that’s the case, then it’s high time that we tell each and every one of these large public events that they need to provide EMS coverage just like they have porta-potties, trash collection, food service, and security on site.

The Semi-Regular Reminder on EMS Politics

Yep. It’s that time again. “EMS On The Hill Day” is just around the corner.  As we all know from EMS social media and the EMS “Powers That Be,” AKA:the usual conference speakers and the people who now provide consulting services to fix the messes that they created in the first place, merely showing up one day in Washington DC in a uniform that’s a cross between Idi Amin and the Knights of Columbus will magically fix all that is wrong with EMS.

 

I’ve worked in state government for years.  I’ve been a lawyer for years.  I’ve been involved in many political campaigns and involved in political parties.  I’m telling you — that’s not how any of this works.

 

We can fix EMS through the political process.  But it’s going to take more than one day per year in Washington DC.  Here’s what it’s going to take.

  1. MONEY.  Money fuels politics.  The reality is that politicians need money to get elected.  Money buys access to the game.  In other words, you can’t watch the game if you don’t have a ticket.
  2. All politics is local.  This famous quote from Tip O’Neill is so true. The Federal government has a limited role in the provision of EMS services, much of which relates to the role that Medicare/Medicaid funding plays. Local governments make the decisions on how to provide (and fund) the EMS system.  State governments typically are the ones who license and regulate EMS personnel and services.  And here we continue to think that the solution to EMS lies in Washington DC. State EMS associations need to step up the advocacy game.  Period.
  3. This is a year round sport.  EMS has to be engaged in the advocacy process year round.  Even in states like mine where the Legislature only meets every two years, there’s plenty going on in the “off season,” which is when interim studies happen and future legislation gets planned.
  4. It’s all about the staff.  Elected officials’ staff members are the subject matter experts and they help the officials develop their positions.  Their schedules are usually much more open than the elected official — get to know them and turn them into your ally.  In turn, they may well call upon you for input — and influence.
  5. The regulatory process matters. Getting legislation passed is great.  But oftentimes, the devil is in the proverbial details.  That’s why it’s imperative to be involved in the rulemaking process and in monitoring how the various regulatory agencies implement and interpret the law.
  6. Funding matters.  When you get funding, things happen.  If you want to fix EMS, fix the laws and regulations that reimburse EMS for being a transportation service rather than a medical service.
  7. Present the image of being professionals.  You want the elected official or their staff to consider you a professional they’d trust, not someone who looks and acts like they just got out of a clown car.

 

Of course, we all want the quick and easy answer to “fix” EMS.  We’ve been trying the quick and easy answers for years and here’s where we are.  Maybe it’s time we try what the adults have done to get their various professions a seat at the table in terms of funding and professional recognition from government.

Part of Being a Professional

There’s a lot of debate on what EMS is, including whether it’s a profession.  Some would say that we are; some would say that we aren’t. Personally, I think that we have the potential to become a profession, depending on some decisions that EMS collectively makes, especially regarding education and entry into EMS.

But there’s one thing that I’ve found is a hallmark of some of the traditionally accepted professions, such as law and medicine.  Namely, we recognize that our patients/clients have autonomy — in other words, the right to accept or reject our advice in most cases.

In our Anglo-American legal system, people have a legal right to make bad decisions. It’s very rare that we, in any field, can substitute our own decisions and force someone else to do what we think is “the right thing.” It’s a hallmark of the liberties that our country and legal system are based upon.  It’s a quick, slippery slope and a short, dangerous trip to allowing the power of the government to intrude on any decision that anyone makes at any time.

So, the next time you think you “know best” when you want to force a patient to accept transport or put them on that backboard because you can, ask yourself what a professional does.  You’ll find the answer rarely involves substituting your personal judgment for your patient’s free will.

Respecting your patients, including respecting their free will go a long way toward enhancing professionalism — as well as avoiding meeting legal professionals.

It’s an EMT (or Paramedic) Card, Not a Hero Card

Recently, the Internet has “blown up” over the two firefighters who, instead of waiting for an ambulance, put a seizing infant in their engine company and transported to a local hospital.  Of course, I wasn’t there and as such, it’s virtually impossible to know everything about the call in question.  However, that’s never stopped the attorney (or medic) in me from applying the 20/20 hindsight spectacles.

First things first.  Pediatric calls scare all of us in EMS.  We rarely have either much training or experience in pediatrics.  Combine that with the all-too-natural instincts to panic when there’s a sick child and it’s a recipe for making some rash decisions.  Not necessarily a wrong decision, but a rash decision.  Most pediatric seizures resolve on their own and those that don’t require ALS medications.  Also, the cab of most fire trucks aren’t set up for patient transport and/or treatment.  Much like the National Registry exam, much of EMS (and medicine in general) is about choosing the “best” answer to your problem.  I can think of very few cases in which transporting a patient in the back of a fire apparatus is the best answer.  The legalities of using a vehicle not licensed for patient transport aside, it’s a potential legal quagmire in the event of a bad outcome.  The back cab of a fire truck is NOT set up to safely transport a patient, especially a child, much less provide working space (or even equipment access) for a medic to treat a patient.  For the overwhelming majority of medical patients, “scoop and run” or “load and go” went out with the Cadillac high-top ambulance.  We’re medical professionals.  We need to be taking care of business, making good decisions for our patients, not panicking, and then playing the “hero card” when we are held accountable for our decisions.

Of course, like anything in law or medicine, the more you know, the less absolute your answers become.  But that’s another topic for another post….