Court Addresses Liability of EMTs/Ambulance Crew Members

In the case of Balderach v. Pennsylvania Medical Transport, Inc., No. 30007 of 2016, C.A. (C.P. Lawr. Co. Nov. 5, 2022 Cox, J.), the court denied a Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment in a medical malpractice case.

The court noted that, while the Pennsylvania Emergency Medical Services Systems Act provides that emergency medical services providers are immune from suit unless the claimant establishes gross negligence or willful misconduct, the Plaintiff’s evidence in this matter, which included two (2) medical expert reports, served to raise genuine issues of material fact on the question of whether the Defendants acted with gross negligence in treating the decedent during a cardiac event.

The court pointed to the record that the Plaintiff’s experts asserted that the two (2) EMTs involved were allegedly grossly negligent in their attempts to resuscitate the decedent. One of the experts also asserted that the EMTs should have transported the decedent to a closer medical facility.

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Source: “Digest of Recent Opinions.” Pennsylvania Law Weekly (Nov. 23, 2022).