** Florida paramedic who upended stretcher with patient still on it given probation
** UK medic faces losing licence after allegedly circulating illicit pictures of female colleague to workmates
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A Florida paramedic, who dumped a terminally ill patient from a stretcher, has been given one year probation. That is the word from WESH (June 22) which said Rockledge practitioner Kenneth Hallenbeck, 35, who has since been fired, pleaded no contest Monday to inflicting injury by culpable negligence. According to the news site, Hallenbeck abused patient James Slater, 49, in February while the two were at Wuestoff Hospital. Although Slater said he told Hallenbeck he was not capable of moving from the stretcher on his own, Hallenbeck continuously yelled at him to vacate the gurney. Eventually he upended it. Slater, who is terminally ill from AIDS, cancer, and Hepatitis, said he sustained a torn rotator cuff in the incident. He said he is now afraid of EMS personnel and feels that Hallenbeck should have been convicted of the original felony instead of being given a plea deal. Along with probation, Hallenbeck has also voluntarily given up his EMS licence.
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** A London Ambulance Service paramedic faces losing his professional licence after being accused of sending explicit pictures of a female colleague to workmates, the media, and the EMS regulator. The Daily Mail (Jennifer Newton/June 22) said Guy Tanner is currently under scrutiny by the Health and Care Professions Council for the October 2013 incidents. According to the newspaper, Tanner was threatening to release the pics in order to force the woman to resign. When she did not, he went through with his promise. The released images came from his work email account. Although he did not appear before the council earlier this week because of claimed health problems, Tanner is facing four charges of misconduct.
