Due to "some COVID law," paramedics in California allegedly refused to enter a care facility to help a man who was in cardiac arrest, according to local authorities.
The Southern California paramedics who refused to enter the post-acute-care facility have since been placed on leave for not helping a man in cardiac arrest last month after bodycam footage of the incident was released, Fox11 reported.
The footage is from the Rialto Police Department and showed police arriving at the Rialto Post Acute Care Center on Nov. 11.
The officer met with two paramedics from the Rialto Fire Department, standing outside the center with their masks on.
There is no audio for the start of the footage, but the officer wrote in his report that the paramedics were there for an unrelated patient and said facility workers were being "problematic."
The officer continued in his report that while they stood there, an unknown employee yelled out to the paramedics saying, "please come help. He's having cardiac arrest."
However, the paramedics responded to the call for help, saying the patient had to be brought outside the facility for them to help because of an "unspecified COVID-19 law."
Related
After about a minute, the officer went inside, where he was greeted by frantic hospital staff asking for help.
"They are not going to come in," the officer told the staff as he started to run to the room where the man was in cardiac arrest. "They're saying it's a state law that they cannot come in."
The bodycam footage then shows the officer encountering multiple staff members performing CPR and life-saving measures on the patient.
The patient's bed did not have wheels, so the officer got behind it and pushed it while workers continued to give CPR.
"You're doing a great job. You're doing a great job. Keep going," the officer told one exhausted staff member.
As the officer was making his way to the doors of the facility, and despite being in the view of the paramedics, they still refused to come in.
"Despite being in their line of sight, fire personnel still insisted on [redacted] being brought to them outside before they began life saving efforts and made no effort to assist me in getting [redacted] outside," the officer wrote.
Related
By then, other emergency medical personnel had arrived and began treating the man, while one of the original paramedics started asking staff administrative questions.
The man was sent to a local hospital and pronounced dead approximately 30 minutes later.
It is still not clear what law the paramedics were originally referring to, the officer wrote in his report.
However, Rialto City Fire Department Acting Chief Brian Park said that "troubling video footage" has resulted in multiple members of his department being placed on leave pending an investigation.
"Our Fire Department's mission is to provide excellence in responding to medical emergencies through 'compassionate service,'" Park said in a statement on Wednesday, Fox News reported. "As Acting-Fire Chief, I will ensure the independence of the outside investigation."
