Judge`s Ruling Changes Ambulance Service in Alabama City
Oct. 16--Decatur Emergency Medical Services might regain its monopoly of providing ambulance service in the city after a judge ruled that competitor First Response failed to comply with requirements of the municipal Code of Ordinances.
Morgan County Circuit Judge Sherrie Paler issued a ruling Monday that prohibits First Response's parent company, Healthcare Investment Group Inc., from operating an ambulance service in the city limits of Decatur under its existing application.
Decatur Fire Chief Darwin Clark said he had not read Paler's court order, so he does not know if First Response will have to stop its services immediately. If so, that could cause problems because a rotation schedule is in place for DEMSI and First Response.
"I am hoping it's not an immediate injunction because we have a system in place," Clark said. "It would be a problem if they (DEMSI) will have to immediately pick up emergency calls because they laid off half their people. It took us 30 days to implement the system we have in place, and I am not changing anything until they (the city's legal staff) advise me on what to do," he said.
Changes with 911 will have to be made, also, Clark said.
Paler's ruling was filed at about 3:30 p.m., and City Attorney Herman Marks said he didn't have ample time to review it.
"We are still gathering information," Marks said. "Our first goal is to make sure we have adequate ambulance service for Decatur to stay in compliance with the court order."
Paler stated in the ruling that Healthcare Investment Group's application for a certificate of public necessity and convenience issued by the city "is invalid as a matter of law."
Under Paler's order, HIG can't operate ambulance service in Decatur until "it submits an application in compliance with" city code and is reissued an operating certificate. The order stated HIG's original application failed to comply with city code because it didn't contain a copy of the company's most recent audited financial statements or list the address where ambulance units would be stationed.
Paler does not give a an effective date for First Response to stop operating in Decatur.
The City Council voted in May to issue the company a certificate on the condition that it met additional guidelines prepared by an Emergency Medical Services committee. In so doing, the council reversed a long-standing practice of allowing only one ambulance provider to take emergency calls in the city. Councilmen Billy Jackson and Greg Reeves dissented.
DEMSI, which had been the lone ambulance provider since 1998, filed a motion in circuit court in June asking the court to issue a permanent injunction against First Response.
After a hearing Aug. 29, Paler took the petition under advisement until she rendered her ruling Monday.
Attempts to reach Healthcare Investment Group owner David Childers and DEMSI's Birmingham attorney Jeff Chapman were unsuccessful.
Copyright 2012 - The Decatur Daily, Ala.
