Would You Risk Your Job to Help a Choking Child?

Qwasie Reid was confronted with this stark question last Wednesday. He and his partner worked as EMTs. They were transporting a nursing home patient. Suddenly, a man flagged them down. He said a girl was choking on her lunch. Reid violated company policy, which strictly forbids stopping for anyone except for a patient who is dispatched (and covered by insurance). He stopped, anyway. In this news story, he said: "She was blue in the face and lips. No response. Unconscious unresponsive." He administered CPR for four minutes until more help arrived. The girl is brain dead, though not for lack of his heroic efforts. Reid? He’s been fired. His view? "As an EMT, I don’t care about your money … There was a child choking. I’m worried about them firing me, but I did a good deed. I just feel like I’m being penalized for something and I haven’t done anything wrong." Thanks to one of my students for the lead on this. PS: In most states, Mr. Reid has no effective legal recourse. In Washington and a couple of other states, there is a controversial tort that would treat this situation as one where an employer wrongfully terminated an employee for trying to save a life. The controversy is that courts generally do not overrule employer judgments in these matters.