** Minnesota EMT charged with theft after allegedly stealing money at crash scene from 2 dead teenaged patients
** UK air ambulance service in Jersey refusing to transport certain obese patients
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A volunteer Minnesota first responder has been charged with stealing money from two dead teenaged
patients in order to pay her electric bill. That is the word from Fox2Now (August 11) which said
Tara Lindquist, 42, allegedly took the money in June. According to the news site, Lindquist responded
to the accident that killed Fargo, North Dakota brothers Connor and Zach Kvalvog on Interstate 94 near
Fergus Falls. She admitted taking $200 off the bodies shortly after arriving on-scene. She also took cash
from two other boys injured in the accident. The boys’ father noticed the theft after his sons’ personal
effects were returned to him. He had given them the money just prior to them driving away in the car.
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** Some obese patients from the UK island of Jersey will no longer be transported by air ambulance during
emergencies. The Daily Mail (Madlin Davies/August 12) said the service has deemed patients weighing
136 kg as being too fat to fly. According to the newspaper, patients weighing 120 kg will also be assessed
for being suitable for the transport. The previous limit for Capital Air Ambulance transports was 200 kgs.
Alternate evacuation methods include via boat, chopper, or fixed wing aircraft. A health department
spokesman for the island said the revised guideline will likely only result in 1 or 2 flights refused annually.
Some 48 per cent of the island’s population is overweight;within in the UK the stat is 62 per cent, while in the
EU the figure sits at 52 per cent.
