Friday, April 1, 2011

** UK medic wrongfully accused of raping patient sues London Ambulance Service

** New York EMT’s posting of murder victim’s photo on Facebook prompts bill making action a felony

UNITED KINGDOM NEWS

** A sacked paramedic wrongfully accused of raping a female patient is suing the London Ambulance Service. This is London (Kiran Randhawa/March 31) said David Gledhill launched his wrongful dismissal suit after being cleared of wrongdoing by both the police and the Health Professions Council. According to the newspaper, the woman spearheading the complaint was allegedly drunk at the time of the EMS call, both propositioning Gledhill and performing a striptease. Delivering the woman to her west London home, Gledhill’s bosses first accused of him of staying on-scene too long and then of not reporting the interaction to police. Although Gledhill said he hopes to return to the practice of paramedicine following the conclusion of the lawsuit, he said he does not want to work for London Ambulance Service again.

UNITED STATES NEWS

** The decision by a former New York EMT to post pics of a murder victim on Facebook has inspired a bill that would make the action a felony. The Times Union (Stephanie Lee/March 31) said the bill, which was introduced in both the Senate and the Assembly Wednesday, would ding public safety officers employing such photos for private use. Currently, the maximum penalty is a misdemeanor. Dubbed “Caroline’s Law” the proposed statute is named after Caroline Wimmer who died in 2009 after being strangled at home with a hair dryer cord. Responding EMT Mark Musarella, who was a former NYPD police detective, launched the picture into cyberspace. Pleading guilty to the reduced charge of disorderly conduct, he was sentenced to only 200 hours community service.