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Paramedic Michael O'Neill was disciplined and put on desk duty at reduced pay. (Credit: WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com)
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Detroit Paramedics Punished: Is It the Wrong Move?
Updated: Tuesday, 08 Feb 2011, 4:23 PM EST
Published : Thursday, 23 Dec 2010, 10:19 PM EST
By CHARLIE LEDUFF
WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com
Remember the story of Gordon Mickey? We told you earlier this week he came from the suburbs to visit a friend in Detroit and that a slow response from EMS may have contributed to his death.
"It has to stop so no one else has to feel what I feel every night when I try to go to sleep," said Madganna Mickey-Wilson, Gordon's daughter.
So what did the fire department do in this case? They put the paramedics on desk duty at reduced pay while they investigate.
FOX 2's Charlie LeDuff talked to one of the disciplined paramedics -- Michael O'Neill.
LeDuff: How far where you away from that house when you got the call?
O'Neill: My station is Calvert and Linwood, so we're saying about five miles.
LeDuff: How long did it take you to get there once you got the call?
O'Neill: According to what we're told downtown seven minutes … once we got the call.
LeDuff: And the lady, it was 20, 25 minutes from the first time she called?
O'Neill: That's correct.
LeDuff: So, how are you to blame?
O'Neill: Sir, that I cannot tell you.
Desk duty? Is that the solution we are looking for? The dead man's daughter does not think so.
"It's not the fix. They've got to get that system better. It's not the fix. Giving them desk duty? My dad is getting ready to be buried on Tuesday and they get desk duty? That's not the fix," Mickey-Wilson said.
Paramedics have said they are the scapegoats for exposing department incompetence and management that does not have a clue.
"The deal is the management retaliates against anybody that brings the truth to the public," said Wisam Zaneih, president of Detroit EMS Association.
If you do not believe them, ask the cops. There was a shooting at a Burger King on the west side Wednesday night. Police told FOX 2 they called for an ambulance and were told no units available. The victim died.
So, LeDuff called the fire commissioner's office yet again, but this time he got a human being. Chief Jerald James of EMS said it is not a punitive action. They just want to get to the bottom of things. Don't we all?
In the meantime, that is one less ambulance serving the city.
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