State medical officials won’t take disciplinary action against an ambulance paramedic accused of misusing a controversial medical procedure.
D. Randy Kuykendall, the state’s chief of emergency medical and trauma services in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said Tuesday that the investigation found the paramedic violated licensing guidelines, but state officials consider the matter closed.
Marilyn Gifford, an emergency physician who sits on a panel that oversees El Paso County ambulance contractor American Medical Response, called the July incident a “clear cut case of paramedics out of control.”
Gifford made the statement in a July 25 letter to David Ross, AMR’s physician adviser, in which she outlined a paramedic’s use of rapid sequence intubation (RSI) after two doctors said the patient didn’t require it.
RSI is an emergency procedure using drugs to temporarily paralyze a patient’s jaw so a tube can be inserted to allow the patient to breathe.
Ross said Tuesday that the state’s investigation corroborates his earlier conclusion that the paramedic’s judgment was sound and warranted no discipline.
The paramedic’s name has not been released.
