Case Law Involving Base-Station Contact

Abstract

AbstractIntroduction:Although general discussions of legal claims against emergency medical services (EMS) have been published, there is no literature that examines legal claims that specifically have involved base-station contact for direct medical control.Methods:A review of case law through July 1994 was conducted to identify cases that involved radio communications between a prehospital provider and a physician or nurse under the direction of a physician.Results:Only eight cases could be identified. Each case is described in terms of the event, selected pertinent legal issues, and the opinions rendered by the court.Conclusions:These few cases illustrate some important observations that indicate that there will occur an increase in the detail, role delineation, and clarification of the prehospital providers, medical directors, base-station physicians, and others who provide direct medical control to prehospital EMS providers. These findings have important implications for EMS medical directors.