12/20/2021 / By Ethan Huff
Because of “some covid law,” California paramedics say they refused to attend to a dying man during a recent emergency call, which led to the man dying without the care he needed.
The incident took place on November 11 in Rialto. The man, 56-year-old Joseph Angulo, was in a care facility when he suddenly stopped breathing. A 911 call from the Rialto Post Acute Care Center sent first responders to the facility around 7:50 p.m.
When police officer Ralph Ballew arrived, two Rialto Fire responders were waiting at the door of the facility. This was confirmed through footage obtained from Ballew’s bodycam.
In the video, Ballew speaks to the care home personnel who explain that the man is in cardiac arrest. Ballew tells them that the paramedics are refusing to enter the building because “they’re saying that it’s a state law that they can’t come in.”
Personnel at the facility were also seen in the footage trying to work on Angulo and appearing to administer CPR while telling Ballew that the bed he was in has no wheels.
Ballew was then seen pushing Angulo’s bed to the doorway and down the hallway, despite the lack of wheels. The bed eventually made it past the front door which is when the paramedics took over, but it was already too late.
“It is difficult to watch the tape,” said Rialto Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott about what became of Angulo, who was transported to a nearby hospital where he later died.
After being told about the incident, Scott reportedly contacted the city attorney. Sergy El More-Shedy from the state’s Emergency Medical Services Authority confirmed that there is no law in place barring paramedics from entering care facilities to assist dying patients.
“Upon acceptance of a call assignment, California paramedics cannot refuse service (i.e., assessment, treatment, transport) unless directed by law enforcement or if the scene is unsafe,” More-Shedy said in a statement.
“Local protocols may change instructions for the conditions to assess, treat, and / or transport.”
Rialto Acting Fire Chief Brian Park followed up as well to indicate that the two paramedics who essentially let Angulo die by refusing him care are now on leave pending an investigation.
Rialto Mayor Deborah Robertson also promised a full investigation into the matter.
In a report, Ballew confirmed that paramedics “insisted the patient had to be brought outside the facility before they could provide any sort of treatment.”
“I was informed due to an unspecified COVID-19 law, fire personnel was [sic] prohibited from entering the facility and the patient needed to be brought outside,” Ballew further explained.
“Despite being in their line of sight, fire personnel still insisted on (the patient) being brought to them outside before they began life saving efforts and made no effort to assist me in getting (the patient) outside.”
Ballew says he was also told by the two paramedics that ever since the implementation of “some covid law” that they could not specify but that they were sure prohibited them from entering the building, “Rialto Fire Personnel had not received any direction on how to proceed from their command.”
“I hope they (paramedics) are charged with negligent homicide and convicted, and do time right alongside Newsom for this ‘law,'” wrote one commenter at The Western Journal.
“I’m a retired paramedic and I think these actions were unacceptable,” wrote another. “We are taught how to protect ourselves (or were supposed to be). I am floored by the actions of the EMS providers in this incident. My sincere condolences to the family of the patient and the staff of the care facility.”
More related news about covid can be found at Genocide.news.
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