The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "emergency medical service" ...
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EMS Taxi: Health Care Dysfunction on Wheels
An analysis of the public records database found that Cleveland residents were calling 911 to be picked up by Emergency Medical Service ambulances for minor ailments. This is because dispatchers can't say no. The result is that response times are slow and the transportation is a high cost for the city.
Tags: transportation; emergency medical services; Medicaid; Medicare; Metrohealth Medical Center; Cleveland; ambulance; 911; database; health; medicine;
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911 Emergency
The investigation found that "rigid adherence to the Medical Priority Dispatch System" lead to delays in help being sent to the caller because they weren't calm enough to answer all the questions on the check list.
Tags: emergency; transportation; emergency response; health; medical service; ambulance; 911
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Air Ambulances
A Fort Worth physician who was a medical director for several local EMS units was also employed by a "for-profit air ambulance service." Under his direction the EMS units began using his company's helicopters, even when they weren't the closest ones to the scene.
Tags: medical; emergency; EMS; helicopters; air ambulance; politicians; patients; injuries;
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Troubled Rescuers
A number of Californian paramedics were found to be turning to drugs and alcohol because they were over stressed. This lead them to endanger patients and commit crimes. Even after being caught, overview was lax. Paramedics were also found to bye "cheating and committing fraud in obtaining and renewing their state licenses.
Tags: paramedic; health; emergency medical technician; State Fire Marshal; Emergency Medical Services Authority; California; drug abuse; alcohol
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Delaware's Deadly Prisons
This four day series examined the health care for more than 6,000 inmates at Delaware's prisons. Documents and interviews showed that inmates did not receive routine or emergency care from state-contracted medical providers for ailments from cancer to AIDS. In several cases inmates died. The state did not oversee the contractors, and employees of the contractors said they were told that cost is more important than care.
Tags: prison; terminal disease; inmate care; AIDS; cancer; Department of Justice; Department of Corrections; FOIA; Department of Health and Human Services; private contractors; privatization; jail; incarceration
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Firefighters Under Fire
This three part series investigates the San Francisco Fire Department based on information revealed from unnamed firefighters. In "Light Duty", hidden cameras show one officer works just 16 hours a week at his full time job, but still gets paid for 40 hours. Other light duty-or injured firefighters-get paid to watch for alarms, a job that could be eliminated and save tax dollars if the system was automated. Light duty officers are supposed to be restricted to one year of this recovery work, but this rule was not enforced. "Fire Raid" shows alcohol and drug use are problems at fire stations. One officer was found on duty with a blood alcohol level above the accepted limit and another tested positive for marijuana. A third officer drove a fire truck while taking medication that warns against operating hazardous machinery. In "EMS Mistake", the paramedic team is accused of not following protocol in response to an accident and causing the victim to be paralyzed. The investigation finds that other on-going investigations accuse paramedics of assault and even leaving a live woman for dead.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; FOIA; sunshine law; firefighter; fire department; EMS; emergency medical service; hidden camera; light duty; drugs; alcohol; marijuana
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6 Minutes to Live or Die
This story investigates the loss of life across the United States as a result of failing emergency medical services. Davis uses a variety of examples to illustrate that people who suffer from cardiac arrest can be saved as long as an ambulance can reach them in time. He writes, "hundreds of people die needlessly each year because some cities fail to make basic, often inexpensive changes in the way they deploy ambulances, paramedics, and fire trucks." There is a helpful illustration of a United States map, with rankings of different cities across the nation and how they measure up when it comes to emergency response time.
Tags: emergency medical srevices; emergency response time; defibrillator; CPR; cardiac arrest
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Six Minutes To Live or Die
This USA Today investigation finds that emergency medical systems in most of the nation's 50 largest cities are fragmented, inconsistent, and slow. The found three major reasons that emergency services in most U.S. cities are saving so few people in life-or-death situations. Many cities' emergency services are undermined by their culture...disagreements and turf wars between fire departments and ambulance services cause deadly delays. Most cities don't measure their performance effectively..if at all. So they can't determine how many lives they're losing, and therefore can't find ways to increase survival rates. Finally, many cities lack the strong leadership needed to improve emergency medical services.
Tags: Medical emergency; paramedic; emergency services industry; statistics; false statistics; response times; 911 dispatch centers; fire trucks; ambulances; EMS; Mayo Clinic; performance; survival rates; delays
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Six Minutes to live or die
Davis reports that "emergency medical services in the nation's 50 largest cities are fragmented, inconsistent and slow, costing more than 1,000 lives each year." According to the report, "the problems are rooted in easy-to-fix areas, including turf battles between emergency agencies, inaccurate measurement of response times and survival rates, and lack of community leadership."
Tags: emergency response; ambulance; firefighters; CPR; cardiac arrest; paramedics; emergency system; medics; doctors; EMS
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Are you experienced?
This story deals with police brutality. It narrates the death of Mexican legal immigrant Luis Alfonso Torres after he was detained by three members of the Police Dept. of the city of Baytown, west of Houston (Texas). The detention was filmed by a camera mounted on one of the squad's car. When he was detained, Bernstein says, Torres was "suffering from hypertension" and unarmed. "It's bigger than the Rodney King video. After all, in this incident someone died", says a Houston-based Hispanic activist quoted in the story. "Cops killing Mexicans is not new to Harris County", Bernstein says and adds in 1999 the Mexican consulate "proposed a travel warning to advise fellow citizens against visiting Houston because of all the police shootings in the area."
Tags: Baytown Police; Harris County; Harris County District Attorney's Office; Texas ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union); Emergency Medical Service (EMS); Baytown Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)