Qualified Immunity Shields EMTs from Claims Over Patient Death

The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that two emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were entitled to qualified immunity because a gunshot victim set forth no facts supporting a constitutional claim for violation of due process as a result of allegedly deficient emergency care.

Alter Keith Jackson was shot on Sept. 16, 2000 and two EMTs from the Detroit Fire Department were dispatched to the scene, where they found Jackson alive but bleeding profusely. The EMTs placed Jackson in their ambulance, but they did not administer life support or transport him to a trauma center. Jackson died in the ambulance.

Jackson's mother sued the EMTs in their personal capacity, alleging that they violated her son's due process rights by failing to provide proper emergency care. The EMTs moved for dismissal, arguing that they enjoyed qualified immunity against Jackson's claims. The district court denied the motion, and the EMTs appealed.

The Sixth Circuit held that the EMTs were entitled to qualified immunity. First, the Sixth Circuit held that, generally, it is not a constitutional violation for a state actor to render incompetent medical assistance or to fail to rescue a citizen. Further, neither the "custody," nor the "state-created danger" exceptions to the general rule applied.

Jackson was never in state custody, as he was not held against his will by a state actor. Moving an unconscious patient into an ambulance does not constitute custody absent some evidence that the EMTs made affirmative acts to restrain the patient.

The Sixth Circuit also held that Jackson had not established a claim under the "state-created danger" exception because there was no evidence that the EMTs' conduct created a greater danger than the one posed by Jackson's gunshot wound. Conditions inside the ambulance were safer than in public generally.

Source: New York Health Law Update, 01/01/2006

Copyright © 2006 by Strafford Publications, Inc. https://www.straffordpub.com/ All rights reserved. Storage, reproduction or transmission by any means is prohibited except pursuant to a valid license agreement.

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.