Legal Lesson of the Month: The Locked Door

EMS can be full of interesting and tricky legal scenarios. While you can’t have an attorney ride with you, it behooves providers to have at least some familiarity with the principles, precedents, and major issues of EMS law. To that end EMS World is pleased to offer a new feature, the EMS Legal Lesson of the Month.

These cases are presented by prominent attorneys in the EMS field. This month’s comes from Larry Bennett, program chair for fire science and emergency management at the University of Cincinnati. Bennett has been an attorney since 1970 and a certified firefighter and EMT in Ohio since 1980. His textbook Fire Service Law is used in the National Fire Academy’s “Political and Legal Foundations of Fire Protection” course. 

Bennett’s department publishes a useful monthly Fire & EMS and Safety Law newsletter; subscribe to that by e-mailing Lawrence.bennett@uc.edu or read the latest edition here. Find this case and more in his section on EMS cases. 

April Legal Lesson of the Month: The Locked Door

Case: Coleman v. East Joliet (Ill.) Fire Protection District

Decided: January 2016

Verdict: The Illinois Supreme Court reinstated a lawsuit by the family of deceased 9-1-1 caller that sought to prove “willful or wanton” misconduct when EMS did not make forced entry and the 9-1-1 caller was found dead 45 minutes after her call. The court abolished prior case law precedent granting immunity to governmental entities and personnel, even if they acted in willful or wanton manner, under the so-called “Public Duty Rule.” 

Link: https://ceas.uc.edu/content/dam/aero/docs/fire/Forced.pdf 

Facts: On June 7, 2008, at 6:10 p.m., Coretta Coleman called 9-1-1. She was connected to the Will County 9-1-1 operator on duty, Laurie Zan. Coleman told Zan she could not breathe and needed an ambulance. Coleman gave her address as 1600 Sugar Creek Drive in Joliet and told Zan to hurry. 

Zan transferred the call to Orland Central Dispatch. Dispatcher Eric Johnson received Coleman’s transferred 9-1-1 call from Zan. Although written procedures required Zan to communicate the nature of Coleman’s emergency, Zan hung up as soon as the call was transferred. Johnson asked Coleman some questions but received no response. Johnson did not know whether anyone was on the line or the call was dropped. Johnson hung up and called Coleman’s number twice but received a busy signal. Johnson testified that dispatchers are trained to call the agency that transferred the 9-1-1 call if more information is needed, but he did not. Johnson identified the nature of the call as an “unknown medical emergency” and placed the call for an ambulance dispatch at 6:13 p.m.

EMT Louis Helis and paramedic Scott Mazor arrived at the Coleman residence at 6:19 p.m. They were unable to enter the home because the doors were locked. They rang the doorbell, pounded on the doors, and yelled “fire department!” but no one answered. They looked in windows but did not see anyone. Helis and Mazor radioed Orland Central Dispatch for more information and asked the dispatcher, Jacqueline Johnson, to call Coleman. Jacqueline Johnson told Helis and Mazor, “We’ll try in a minute.” She recalled that when she attempted to contact Will County for more information, the line was busy. 

While at the Coleman home, Helis and Mazor were approached by neighbors who told them an elderly couple lived at the residence. The man had heart issues, and they had seen him mow the lawn earlier that day, but his truck was gone. The neighbors did not have the Colemans’ phone number but said the woman was unlikely to answer the phone. Based on this information, Helis and Mazor determined a forced entry could not be made. Helis and Mazor told the neighbors they could not make a forced entry without a police officer present. However, they advised that the neighbors could call the police and ask them to perform a forced entry. Helis and Mazor called their supervisor at the East Joliet Fire Protection District, who ordered them to leave the scene and go back into service. Neighbors then called police. 

At 6:40 p.m. Johnson erroneously dispatched East Joliet Fire Protection District ambulance 534 to 1600 Sugar Creek Court instead of 1600 Sugar Creek Drive. When there appeared to be no number 1600 on Sugar Creek Court, the ambulance crew called Orland Central Dispatch to check the address. Eric Johnson called Will County 9-1-1 for more information about the address. While Johnson spoke with a Will County dispatcher, the crew of ambulance 534 found the Coleman residence on their own. The ambulance arrived at the house at 6:51 p.m., 41 minutes after Coleman made the initial 9-1-1 call. The crew knocked on the door, but no one answered. They then called a supervisor to ask if they should force entry. Coleman’s husband then arrived and let them into the house. The crew found Coleman unresponsive, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital. She’d died of cardiac arrest brought on by a rapid onset of pulmonary edema. 

Key quote: “The legislature has deemed it appropriate to allow recovery in cases of willful and wanton misconduct. When the public duty rule is applied, however, a plaintiff is precluded from pursuing a cause of action for willful and wanton misconduct, in contravention of the clear legislative decision to allow recovery against the public entity in certain cases involving willful and wanton misconduct. The legislative intent is to impose liability upon public entities under circumstances of willful and wanton misconduct. Thus, application of the public duty rule to preclude recovery is incompatible with the legislature’s grant of limited immunity.” 
 
Legal lesson: Develop an SOG on forced entry. If you need police at a residence, call them while you wait at the home.