Wednesday, July 18, 2012

** Texas woman charged after kicking pregnant medic

** Virginia EMT killed in fire truck crash;charges could be pending

UNITED STATES NEWS

** Patient violence against medics continues to grow, with the latest incident seeing a Texas woman kick a pregnant medic because she was being transported to a hospital she didn’t like. That is the word from KVUE (July 17) which said the 38-year-old Austin woman was arrested Friday shortly after the incident. According to the news site, the woman hailed EMS after cutting herself. Demanding to be transported to a facility in Temple, the patient let loose with a stomach kick to one of the female responders and a face punch to the other female medic when told she would be taken to another hospital. No court date has yet been set, but the woman has been charged with third degree felony assault on a public servant. There is no word on the specific injuries sustained by either provider.

** Charges could be pending against a Virginia fire truck driver after he lost control of his vehicle on a turn Monday, killing an area EMT. Delmarva.com (Carol Vaughn/July 17) said Northampton County Department of EMS medic David R. Chew Jr., 30, died around 11:31 a.m. while responding to an MVA. According to the newspaper, Chew was a passenger in the fire truck at the time of the crash and was ejected upon impact. He was not belted in. Driver James Richard Lambirth, 44, sustained non life threatening injuries. Chew, who was also a United Methodist minister and chaplain to the Bloxom Volunteer Fire Company, leaves a wife and 3-year-old son behind. Funeral services are pending.