No on AB 263: EMS Providers Respond to Emergencies In Real Time When Minutes Matter

Sacramento, CA  - Today, American Medical Response (AMR), California’s largest provider of 911 emergency ambulance services, launched an online media campaign in opposition to AB 263, authored by Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez. AB 263 places patient care at risk by seeking to restrict or eliminate private EMS providers from operating in the state. The standard practice of EMS is that the closest ambulance to an emergency responds because patient care takes precedent to rest and meal breaks. AB 263 will prohibit that standard. The online media campaign ‘Lives Before Lunch’ highlights the onerous limitations AB 263 puts into place. Its purpose is to educate members of the public to the dangers of the bill, and urge them to contact their legislators to vote “NO” when it comes before them. As written, AB 263 is an unprecedented political power grab, and will heavily penalize private – but not public – employers of EMTs and paramedics for break interruptions during responses to disasters, and prevent or delay responses to medical emergencies. What’s more, it requires private emergency responders to release their employees from patient care duties even if it places patient care at risk, and allows private EMTs and paramedics to walk away from their ambulances and station houses while on duty. Putting that into perspective, private EMS providers were the primary paramedic ambulance service that responded to the San Bernardino shootings, the Asiana plane crash and...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Operations Industry News Source Type: news