** Ambulance service management in Dublin heavily fined in driving death of paramedic
** South Carolina paramedic charged with sexual misconduct
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** The June 2010 death of a Dublin paramedic, who fell from the back of a moving ambulance, has resulted in the Health Service Executive (HSE) being fined 500,000 Euros. The Irish Times (June 27) said the penalty in the case of Simon Sexton, 43, was awarded late last week in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. According to the newspaper, Sexton plunged out of the rear of the EMS unit after hearing wind noise. When he touched the door lever, he was pulled outside and onto the pavement. Sustaining serious head injuries, he succumbed to his wounds a short time later. Court heard the HSE was aware of the faulty door design as early as 2007 when a similar incident took place in Kerry. In that instance, the paramedic also suffered head injuries. Although the HSE instituted some safety recommendations as a result, several improvements were dismissed. Judge Mary Ellen Ring castigated the HSE, saying had proper changes been made, Sexton might not have died.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Details remain scarce, but the San Francisco Chronicle (AP/June 27) is reporting that a Greenville County EMS medic in South Carolina has been charged with third degree criminal sexual conduct. According to the newspaper, Reidville resident Nathan Randal Davis, 35, stands accused of assaulting a woman while at her Myrtle Beach apartment in early June. Davis, who has been suspended pending the case’s outcome, was arrested June 24.
