Request By:
Phillip R. Patton, Esq.
117 East Washington Street
Glasgow, Kentucky 42141
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter concerning the lack of an ambulance service based in the City of Cave City and a possible proposal by the city to provide E.M.T. training for the city's policemen and firemen.
Residents of the city are served by an ambulance service based in Glasgow which is eight or nine miles from Cave City. Since it takes some time for an ambulance to travel between the two cities, the City of Cave City is concerned with the treatment of ill or injured persons during emergency situations and recognizes that prompt emergency medical assistance is often critical as to whether the injured or ill person lives or dies.
The City of Cave City is considering the possibility of providing E.M.T. training for its policemen and firemen. Police and fire vehicles would be equipped with first aid supplies enabling policemen and firemen to better administer emergency medical assistance. The policemen and firemen would not transport the injured or ill person but would attempt to provide care and assistance until the ambulance arrives to transport the victim to appropriate medical facilities.
The City of Cave City seeks the opinion of this office as to whether its proposal would violate any existing law or regulation or subject the city to civil liability.
The right of a policeman and fireman to render emergency first aid is generally recognized but problems arise when the accident victim's condition is such that it is beyond the level of training and ability of the policeman or fireman to cope with that particular problem. In addition, sometimes untrained personnel with good intentions immediately move an accident victim before the person's condition can be stabilized serving only to aggravate rather than to alleviate the problem.
Since the city's proposed program involves only the training of police and fire personnel in the administering of emergency first aid, and not the providing of an ambulance service, the city is not subject to the provisions and requirements of KRS 216.405 et seq. and 902 KAR 20:115 dealing with the regulation of emergency care ambulance services. We do not know of any statute or regulation which would preclude the city from establishing the type of program which you have set forth. Of related interest, see H.B. 650, enacted by the 1978 Regular Session of the General Assembly, providing that on-duty police and fire department personnel assisting in emergency situations by providing first aid or transportation when regular emergency units licensed to provide such functions are unable to arrive at the scene of an emergency situation within a reasonable time need not be licensed pursuant to KRS 216.405 et seq.
In an attempt to not only provide better emergency care treatment but to also reduce the potential liability of those persons rendering emergency care or treatment, we would suggest that the city consider having such personnel certified as emergency medical technicians by the Kentucky Department for Human Resources. Such a program can be provided at a nominal cost to the city by the Department for Human Resources. For further information the city should contact:
Mr. Roland Dallaire, Director, E.M.S. Branch, Department for Human Resources, Bureau for Health Services, 275 East Main Street, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
In connection with the nonliability of persons certified as emergency medical technicians, see KRS 411.148, the "Good Samaritan" Act. That statute provides in part that a person certified as an emergency medical technician by the Kentucky Department for Human Resources shall not be liable in civil damages for administering emergency care or treatment at the scene of an emergency outside of a hospital, doctor's office, or other place having proper medical equipment, excluding house calls, for acts performed at the scene of such emergency, unless such acts constitute willful or wanton misconduct. The immunity does not apply to such emergency sites where the emergency care or treatment is rendered for remuneration or with the expectation of remuneration. See OAG 76-36, copy enclosed, dealing with this provision.
Those persons rendering emergency medical aid or treatment and not certified as emergency medical technicians may be liable in "ordinary tort" for negligence (resulting in injuries to persons or property or in death) in performing their authorized activities and as they may affect various individuals. See OAG 71-82, copy enclosed.
In connection with municipal liability, the