Complaints

• Faxable Complaint Reporting Form (PDF) | RTF

Common Complaints Against Emergency Medical Technicians

Purpose

1. Not providing a trip record on all ambulance calls.
2. Soliciting of patient refusal.
3. Falsification of any ambulance or training record or documentation.
4. Violation of the current Statewide Treatment Protocols.
5. Providing treatment beyond the scope of practice as currently certified.
6. Right to operate a motor vehicle in Massachusetts is revoked or suspended.
7. Failure to operate an ambulance according to MGL Chapter 90.
8. Failure to treat and transport a patient.
9. Transporting a deceased individual without providing patient care.
10.  Failure to use a short spine board (KED, XP-1, etc.) for seated MVA patient where rapid extrication was used but not necessary.
11.  Allowing/ encouraging a patient to walk to cot or ambulance.
12.  Failure to secure a patient to cot with over the shoulder harness, hip & leg straps.
13.  Standing a non-ambulatory patient for a turn & pivot maneuver resulting in a leg fracture.
14.  Rolling a cot in the high position without both EMTs having both hands on cot.
15.  ALS inappropriately down triaging to BLS.
16.  Failure to initiate care for a patient in cardiac arrest with unknown time and/or no obvious clinical signs of death.
17.  Failure to follow Drug Control Program (DCP) regulations.
18.  Failure to understand and act in accordance with the requirement that each EMT assigned to the ambulance shares equal responsibility for patient care.
19.  Failure to have the EMT with the highest level of certification attending to the patient during transport.

Additional Information

• Administrative Requirements