Florida Dispatcher Faces Suspension Over Response
NEW PORT RICHEY -- The 911 dispatcher who handled a call about two boys who died from carbon monoxide poisoning is facing possible suspension for failing to provide timely life-saving instructions to their mother.
Ilona Smith, a lead communications officer who has worked for Pasco County since 1988, also was reprimanded for having a "callous" demeanor in dealing with Barbara Baudin, the mother of the boys. Baudin has said she found Jules, 14, and Parker, 12, "as cold as ice" and not breathing July 9. One of the boys was in her bed, the other boy in his own.
Smith, 61, is scheduled to have a disciplinary hearing with Pasco County Personnel Director Barbara De Simone on Wednesday. Emergency Services Director Anthony Lopinto, who met with Smith earlier this week, is recommending she be suspended for a 12-hour shift without pay. Smith's personnel records show no previous reprimands and one promotion, in 2000. Her salary is about $40,000.
Smith is the third Pasco dispatcher to be disciplined in recent months for mishandling a 911 call. Facing termination, a communications supervisor and a lead communications officer resigned after they failed to provide instructions in the Heimlich maneuver during a March call, before a Land O' Lakes woman choked to death.
Smith's actions raised suspicion after Lopinto heard an excerpt from the call on a local television broadcast and noticed she was "less than compassionate" to the mother, he said. Lopinto listened to the entire tape and discovered another problem: a 1 1/2 -minute delay between the time Smith determined the boys were not breathing and when she offered CPR instructions.
Lopinto has changed emergency 911 procedures since the March choking and is keeping closer tabs on dispatchers, especially those providing emergency medical dispatch instructions, he said. Pasco dispatchers are trained to follow a flip chart with prescribed questions and to act based on the responses to ensure CPR and other life-saving procedures are administered before paramedics arrive. The questions are set by the Association of Public Safety Communication Officers.
"This is one of the things we have harped on," Lopinto said. "Pre-arrival instructions must be followed to a T. If you stray from the flip chart, [dispatchers] get into a legal arena where they can't defend you if you did not follow prescribed instructions."
According to reports, Baudin called 911 at 9:33 a.m. Smith dispatched two ambulances to 4605 Casswell Drive in the Villas of Gulf Harbor and paramedics pronounced the boys dead at the scene. They later found Baudins' minivan parked in the closed garage with the key in the ignition and the gas tank empty.
Smith had memorized the questions and recited them, but missed a critical cue -- that the children were not breathing -- causing a delay before CPR could be performed, Lopinto said. Instead of instructing Baudin in CPR, Smith asked her several questions from an "unconscious" card, including whether the children were using recreational drugs.
Once Smith got to the CPR instructions, there was another delay.
"She made an error," Lopinto said of Smith. "It was a human error, but there were two patients who were not breathing, and she didn't follow the cards to CPR. Eventually, when she got to the CPR instructions, the mom struggled. It took some time to get the boys off the bed and onto the floor...That was time that she could have offered CPR."
Throughout the call, Smith was short with Baudin, Lopinto said, but she was particularly callous when Baudin told the dispatcher one of her sons had vomit in his mouth. Smith told the woman to sweep the boy's mouth with her finger to remove the vomit, but she also became impatient.
"She was less than compassionate to a woman who was confronted with losing her two sons," Lopinto said. "At one point, she said, 'Get the boy that didn't throw up all over himself.'
"Smith acknowledged she mishandled the call and accepted responsibility, Lopinto said.
Since the March choking call, dispatchers repeatedly have been told to follow flip charts even if they know the questions by heart. That is not happening in all cases, spot checks have shown.
Smith's punishment was not as severe as it might have been, because the boys had died before their mother found them unconscious, Lopinto said.
"We're looking for a behavior change," Lopinto said. "This is not as significant, because the boys had passed away long before she called. If somebody died as a result of this, I'd have to take that into consideration. The punishment would have been more severe, possibly career-ending .... We have been making improvements, but it's a work in process. Unfortunately, she made a mistake."
Brad Heaverlo, a family friend of the Baudins, said Friday the family has hired an attorney and is considering legal action against the county.
New Port Richey police are continuing to investigate and are awaiting results of toxicology tests from an autopsy. In a preliminary report, carbon monoxide poisoning was determined to be the cause of death, but it is unclear whether the deaths were accidental, intentional or the result of negligence, investigators have said.
Reporter Christian M. Wade contributed to this story. Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante @tampatrib.com.
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