EMT Keeps Job After Reportedly Refusing to Help Dying Baby

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A Detroit EMT who was less than a mile away but refused to assist at a home where an 8-month-old baby later died, has kept her job, despite reportedly having told her boss she didn’t stop because “you know how these families get.”

The emergency responder, Ann Marie Thomas, was suspended following the incident, Detroit Fire Commissioner Edsel Jenkins told WDIV-TV, but has filed an appeal. It’s unclear when the incident happened, but the fire department just wrapped up two internal investigations, the television station said.

“As executive fire commissioner, I have the ability to make the ultimate determination,” Jenkins said. He didn’t say if he plans to fire the EMT.

The dispatcher ordered Thomas and her partner to stop at the scene to help the baby, who was wasn’t breathing when her mother called 911.

Thomas initially tried to pass off the call to another unit, then reportedly took about three times longer than normal to get to the scene. When she arrived, she parked her unit on a corner a street away from the baby, according to reports from internal investigations and a recording of the 911 call cited by WDIV.

At one point, the 911 operator said, “Updated information that the child is not breathing. The baby was hooked up to an oxygen machine because it was premature.”

When Thomas and her partner still declined to stop, the dispatcher advised them the baby’s mother was performing CPR.

“Ma’am, you have to make contact with your patient,” the dispatcher said, repeating, “You have to make contact with your patient.”

An ambulance arrived, and the baby was transported to a hospital and revived, but died the next morning.

During the investigation, Thomas reportedly told her boss:

“I’m not about to be on no scene 10 minutes doing CPR, you know how these families get.”

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