Followup on San incident

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FYI.

-Wes Ogilvie

Paramedic didn't check pulse of wreck victim

SAN ANTONIO — A paramedic failed to check the pulse of a car-wreck victim

who was presumed dead and left untreated before a medical examiner discovered

she was breathing, officials said.

a N. , 23, remained in the car's wreckage with a tarp over her body

for more than an hour on Dec. 16 before she was taken to a San

hospital. She died from her injuries the next day.

Paramedic Mike Gardner violated the Fire Department's operating procedures by

judging to be dead by looking at her and not checking her vital signs,

officials said. had suffered a severe head injury.

Checking for vital signs " is part of the protocol, and it's part of the

protocol for a reason: To save lives, " City Attorney Bernard said

Tuesday.

The city's policy calls for paramedics to check vital signs regardless of a

patient's injury.

Fire Chief Hood said " medical protocol was definitely violated in

this instance. It was an error in judgment. "

" I'm sorry for what the family has endured, and I'm sorry for the

mistake that was made on our part for the incident, " Hood said.

In the days after 's death, Hood defended the department's response. At

the time, he said paramedics had been unable to find 's pulse and that

he didn't expect for the paramedics to be disciplined.

" We were assuming (they had checked for her pulse), " Hood said Tuesday.

Gardner, 35, has been transferred to the Fire Department's firefighting

division and permanently restricted from working as a paramedic in San ,

officials said.

Three other paramedics who responded to the accident have been demoted and

stripped of their licenses to practice emergency care in the city, officials

said.

Hood said the four paramedics were in the 21st hour of a 24-hour shift that

began the previous day.

Steele, head of the San Professional Firefighters' Association,

said the four paramedics met with Hood on Monday and were aware of the

disciplinary measures. He said the case had exhausted them to the point that

they're " pretty much not emotional anymore. "

City Manager Sheryl Sculley said the city would immediately implement

additional training as a result of the incident.

The city's communication center also erred in its handling of the wreck,

because a dispatcher miscoded the call as a non-high speed auto accident,

officials said. If properly coded as a high-speed auto accident, emergency

responders would have brought a ladder truck with equipment capable of removing

from the wreckage. The equipment wasn't dispatched until the medical

examiner realized that was breathing.

, a senior at Texas State University, was the front passenger in a Honda

Accord with two other people when their car was struck by a vehicle that

crossed the Loop 410 median and slammed into the Accord head-on, police said.

While was left unattended, paramedics took the other two people in the

car to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the other vehicle, Ann Ybarra, 28, has been charged with

intoxication manslaughter, police said.

's relatives said they're still upset with the city's handling of the

incident.

" I'm very angry, " said her father, . " It's a struggle, minute by

minute. "

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