Nevada Strips Licenses of Two EMS Providers

REVIEW-JOURNAL

State regulators have suspended the licenses of two Pahrump emergency responders arrested last year after police say they gave up on a patient before he was dead.

Emergency medical technician Rodd Fernandes and paramedic Carrol L. Meeks were effectively stripped of their licenses last week in connection with a Nov. 24 call that ended in the death of Linus Wendler.

The chronically ill 63-year-old shot himself in the head just as Fernandes and Meeks arrived at the man's trailer in response to a medical call.

Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said the emergency responders initially reported that Wendler was dead, but a deputy who arrived later noticed the man was breathing and still had a pulse.

DeMeo said Meeks and Fernandes had to be ordered to treat Wendler.

"The autopsy revealed that he was alive for at least 30 minutes after the trauma. The autopsy proved to us that a crime was committed," DeMeo said.

Six days after the incident, Fernandes and Meeks were booked on one count each of felony criminal neglect of a patient and felony neglect of an older person.

Neither man has been formally charged, however.

Messages left for Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett were not returned Tuesday.

The two men were fired by the town of Pahrump in April.

Town Manager Dave Richards confirmed that they were dismissed for their actions on the day of Wendler's death. The decision came on the heels of an investigation by an outside attorney hired by the town 60 miles west of Las Vegas.

Richards said representatives of Wendler's estate have filed notice that they intend to sue the town and its ambulance service for civil damages.

Wendler reportedly went without medical care at the scene for at least half an hour. He was pronounced dead within 16 minutes of his arrival at Pahrump's only hospital.

In December, the hospital's chief nursing officer, Carrie Krumtum, told the Review-Journal "it was pretty obvious" that Wendler would not survive his injuries, but emergency room staff made every effort to save him.

Regulatory standards dictate that paramedics and EMTs must render aid to any patient not clinically dead, regardless of how slim the chance of survival might be.

Fernandes and Meeks could not be reached for comment. They have 10 days to appeal the suspension handed down by the State Health Division's Emergency Medical Service and Trauma Program, which serves as the regulatory agency for EMTs and paramedics in Nevada.

Program Manager Fergus Laughridge said the suspensions are open-ended. If the men want to work as emergency responders in Nevada again, they will have to apply for reinstatement, at which time their status will be reviewed.

Laughridge said this is the first time since he joined the division in April 1999 that a first responder has been disciplined by the state for conduct during a call.

Suspensions are rare anyway. When they are handed down, they usually concern ambulance crew members who get in trouble off the job or fail to disclose criminal backgrounds.

"It's pretty unusual," Laughridge said.

Wendler's neighbor and long-time friend described him as a heavy smoker who was tethered to an oxygen tank and was left mostly bedridden by emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

On Thanksgiving, the day before he died, Wendler called 911 and said he was having trouble breathing, but he declined to be taken to the hospital when the ambulance arrived.

The next day, the man's breathing problems returned, so he dialed 911 again. Police said Fernandes and Meeks got there just in time to hear the gunshot.

According to state records, Meeks has been licensed as a paramedic in Nevada since May 1998 and held a paramedic license in Texas before that. Fernandes was first licensed in Nevada as a basic EMT in May 1999. He completed training and was upgraded to an intermediate EMT later that year.

More than 1,600 EMTs and paramedics hold active licenses from the Emergency Medical Service and Trauma Program, which governs all first responders outside of Clark County.

"We're here to protect the public," Laughridge said.

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