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Judge: Blanco EMS director should lose certificate

State now deciding case of Mark McMain, who admitted he took painkillers to

give to his wife.

By _ Lorenz_

(http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/25/mailto:alorenz@s\

tatesman.com)

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, July 25, 2008

A state administrative law judge recommended Thursday that Mark McMain, the

emergency services director for portions of southern Blanco County, be

stripped of his paramedic certificate.

The judge said in court documents that McMain betrayed the public trust and

jeopardized his wife's health when he gave her narcotics without medical

supervision.

McMain, who has directed the Blanco Volunteer Ambulance Corps for about 12

years, has been barred from treating patients but is still director of the

corps. Calls to McMain for comment Thursday went unanswered.

The Department of State Health Services is expected to make a decision on

McMain's certificate — and the license of the EMS corps — in the next few

weeks.

McMain violated state rules for paramedics and the ambulance corps protocols

when he gave fentanyl, a narcotic pain reliever, to his wife without doctor

supervision and without completing the required patient reports about a dozen

times a month during 2007. An audit found that McMain had improperly dipped

into stores of the painkiller 237 times.

State Administrative Law Judge Ann Landeros said in her recommendation that

McMain " knew that when he gave the fentanyl to his wife for her headaches, he

was not providing emergent care or acting within the scope of his authority

as an EMT. "

McMain also failed to disclose his criminal history to the state when

renewing his paramedic certificate in 2003 and 2007. McMain was charged with

misappropriating $20,000 from the Blanco Volunteer Fire Department in 1992, a

felony. He was on supervised probation until 2002.

Larry , the retired chairman of Baptist Hospital in San , has

staunchly supported McMain, saying he would " stick his neck out " for McMain

because McMain is valuable to the county as a paramedic. said he thought

McMain's judgment had been clouded by his concern for his wife.

has proposed a plan that would give the ambulance corps board the

authority to allow McMain to work under restricted access to drugs, with full

access within a year. In addition, more than 50 members of the Blanco community

wrote letters in McMain's defense.

However, the judge said such a plan would not be appropriate because the

esteem that the community has for McMain and the EMS board's support for him

contributed to McMain's misconduct.

" It is telling that someone outside BVAC filed the complaint against " McMain,

Landeros wrote in her recommendation. " The BVAC members are not appropriate

monitors for " him.

Landeros said the corps' lax bookkeeping and audit practices contributed to

McMain's problems. The American-Statesman has requested financial documents

and drug logs from the agency under the Texas Public Information Act, but the

agency has not responded within the required time period.

McMain tried to justify giving his wife drugs on humanitarian grounds,

Landeros wrote, and so " demonstrated that he lacks comprehension or remorse for

the enormity of his misconduct. "