Detroit EMT Fired After Refusing CPR on Baby: Officials

[joeybee12]

A Detroit EMT has reportedly been fired amid outrage that she refused to perform CPR on a baby who later died.

Ann Marie Thomas was originally suspended then fired from the Detroit Fire Department Wednesday, after refusing to answer a call regarding an 8-month-old baby who had trouble breathing, according to NBC Detroit affiliate WDIV. The baby, who was taken to the hospital by a crew that arrived 19 minutes after the original call, died the following day.

Despite originally answering the call with her partner from less than a mile away, Thomas wanted to wait until another crew arrived because she was worried the family was hostile, the station reported. Her supervisors said the scene did not have any indication of hostility, and asked four times for Thomas to respond to the call.

An internal report into the incident quotes Thomas as saying she didn't want to be on the scene for 10 minutes doing CPR because "you know how these families can get."

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/Detroit-EMT-Fired-After-Refusing-to-Help-Baby--310048321.html

Heart-breaking

[shenmue]

1. Oh no

[Kalidurga]

2. criminal charges should be filed

I hope the family takes her personally to civil court.

[kimbutgar]

3. Are "these families " code for black?

[KamaAina]

4. Ms. Thomas is herself African American.

Go figure.

[Igel]

5. It's deixis.

So you have to treat it that way.

Since it's Detroit, it probably refers to black families. Or maybe poor families. Or perhaps specifically poor black families. If it were in Mesa, AZ, it would probably refer to Latino families. If it were in Harwin area of Houston, it would probably refer to Pakistani families. If in Chinatown, then Chinese. If in Little Italy, Italians. If it were in the Woodlands, TX, it would refer to wealthy white families. If it were in Sun City, AZ, it would be referring to elderly white people.

The sneer you hear is "I don't want to be around them because they can be unpleasant, I find them to usually be unpleasant, and if things go wrong they can be be massively unpleasant." But that's the sneer in the voice, not the words themselves. It's not even clear what "unpleasant" means here--violent? loud? intrusive? too much into offering advice? litigious? contemptuous?

Otherwise it's just deixis. That means, "No, it's not really code, and if you think of it as code then you'll be right this time but wrong more often than you are right."

It might be based on previous personal experience. Perhaps the last few times in that area were "difficult." Or maybe on stereotypes or hearsay.

It could be racist. It doesn't need to be.

[840high]

6. Woman who refused to help black.