Hopefully it'll make first responders pause before dumping a lethal dose of horse tranquilizer into a guy. Fuck those murdering pieces of shit

Paramedic of 10+ years here. If you are a first responder and this verdict gives you pause, makes you worried about your ability to do your job well, then you are in the wrong profession. We already operate publicly - on scene someone is usually recording us on a phone, in the ambulance we often bring a family member and explain what we’re doing, at the hospital we justify the treatment we initialized, and after the run someone is reviewing our documentation. We are accountable for every milligram of drug we administer to a patient, and if that is too great a burden, then please do us all a favor and just leave now.

Prosecution of paramedics is rare because we operate in difficult situations (to put it kindly) and patients often have poor outcomes regardless of treatment. What generally protects us is the maxim of always acting in the best interest of the patient. The minute you stray from that path, you can and should be held personally (and criminally) accountable for your actions.

I see the article actually fails to quantify the dosage that the convicted paramedics gave for McClain's weight, which is proceduralized.

They gave him 500mg, however, they were supposed to give him between 320mg and 350mg.

Perhaps if they paused and estimated his weight McClain would be alive today. There were 15 officers there and McClain was handcuffed and had vomited on the ground. It wasn't even as if quick action was needed.

At the crux of the problem, specifically with the paramedics, is that they gave him an overdose that they should have known was too much. Hopefully, this gives paramedics around the country a wake-up call that they have to be familiar with something that they are administering enough to administer it.

Paramedics shouldn't be shielded from overdosing and killing a patient, especially in a situation where they can take their time.

I have not heard of they are being held pending sentencing. Do they get to have a jail house Christmas?

@Five if they pause before murdering someone by lethal injection when the police ask them to I’m having trouble seeing that as a problem.