** Missouri paramedic pleads guilty to stealing morphine
** London Ambulance Service in UK pays family of dead patient compensation after EMS
crew botched treatment
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A St. Joseph, Missouri paramedic has pleaded guilty to stealing morphine from his ambulance
service. The Herald Palladium (October 13) said former Medic One responder Jason Russell, 40,
pleaded guilty Monday. Under a plea deal, Russell copped to the four year felony of obtaining a
controlled substance by fraud in exchange for having other tags such as narcotics possession and
adulterating or mishandling a drug or medicine dismissed. According to the newspaper, Russell
was arrested in July after admitting his deeds to coworkers. Court heard that some of the morphine
was for his personal use. He is set for sentencing on November 23rd.
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** The London Ambulance Service has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of compensation to
the family of a woman who died two years ago after trainee medics declined to transport her to
hospital. That is the word from The Evening Standard (Sebastian Mann/October 13) which said
the decision comes after a 2013 inquest found serious failings on the part of EMS in the treatment
of Sarah Mulenga, 21. According to the newspaper, sickle cell anemia sufferer Mulenga hailed 999
on January 9, 2013 after complaining of feeling weak. When medics arrived on scene, they did not
do basic checks, dismissing her as an uncooperative person who did not require hospital transport.
A short time later, a second ambulance was called. Mulenga died from cardiac arrest at hospital.
London Ambulance Service chief executive Dr. Fionna Moore apologized to the family. Moore
said the crew responding to Mulenga, who have since been fired, did not follow appropriate protocols.
