TRENTON — Robert Melia Jr.’s arrest in April 2008 drew international headlines, and for good reason: He was a police officer indicted on charges of sexually assaulting three young girls, and engaging in a sex act with several cows.
But when the Moorestown cop renewed his certification as an emergency medical technician that fall, he checked “no” in the box asking whether he had ever been charged with a crime, and nobody questioned it. It took another two years before the health department suspended EMT privileges for Melia, who was convicted of sexual abuse and other crimes four months ago. And the state’s action came only after a member of the public alerted officials.
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In New Jersey, EMTs and people applying to become emergency responders are not required to undergo criminal background checks — the only emergency health professional that escapes this kind of scrutiny. Unless someone tips off the state, EMTs can hide their questionable baggage.
State health officials and ambulance companies say only a fraction of New Jersey’s nearly 29,000 certified EMTs have committed crimes or violations that would jeopardize their status. But some health care advocates and lawmakers want a tougher law, saying New Jerseyans don’t realize the people answering a call for help and entering their home might not be properly vetted.
Over the past dozen years, the state disciplined 104 people, detailed on a list field professionals call the “wall of shame.” They include:
• 26 people caught impersonating an EMT, including one woman who used five aliases;
• 17 EMTs charged with sexual assault and other sex crimes, nine involving minors;
• 10 EMTs charged with possessing, manufacturing or distributing child pornography;
• Seven EMTs charged with theft;
• Seven EMTs who caused or contributed to the deaths of five people — some while on duty, others in connection with unrelated crimes.
“We do these checks of police and firefighters. We shouldn’t put people in positions of incredible trust without some sort of check on that,” said David Knowlton, president and CEO of New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, a research and consumer advocacy group.
The group launched a push for these checks after it learned in May that New Brunswick police had arrested an EMT from a private company for publicly masturbating outside Saint Peter’s University Medical Center, after delivering a patient there. The man’s name wasn’t on the state list of certified EMTs, but is on the state Corrections website that says he served eight years in prison for robbery, and weapons and drug possession.
The Legislature last year passed a bill overhauling the state’s emergency response system that would have required background checks for all emergency responders and given the department more authority to more closely monitor EMTs on the job. But Gov. Chris Christie vetoed it in January, saying he was concerned about costs and the impact on volunteer squads whose leaders fear more restraints could put them out of business. The bill (S1650) has been reintroduced and passed one round of committees.
Even without a state mandate, many hospitals and private ambulance companies already conduct background checks on the EMTs they employ, for liability reasons, said health department spokeswoman Donna Leusner.
“New Jersey residents should have confidence in their EMTs,” Leusner said. “Fewer than 0.01 percent of the nearly 29,000 certified EMTs have received disciplinary action over the past decade, and these are not representative of New Jersey’s emergency medical services professionals.”
The department’s Office of Emergency Services relies on anonymous tips, news websites and referrals from hospitals, firefighters and others to discipline EMTs.
The most common infractions involved people caught impersonating an EMT while never completing the necessary training. Records show one wanna-be came to the aid of a water skier on Lake Mohawk in Sussex County 10 years ago and shooed away an EMT from a local volunteer squad by telling her he was a paramedic and “that there were enough highly trained people around and her services were not needed,” according to the August 2002 cease-and-desist letter from the state that told him: “You are not currently, nor have you ever been certified as an EMT or paramedic.”
A Camden County 911 dispatcher was arrested in March on child pornography, sexual assault and other charges for allegedly using an alias on Facebook to convince a teenage girl to send him naked photos and meet him for sex. The state caught up to him about three weeks later and suspended his EMT certification after receiving a copy of a report on nj.com.
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One paramedic — on probation for assaulting a patient at Jersey City Medical Center in 2010 — was accused of assaulting a nursing home patient in Cape May County in April. He has been suspended indefinitely. And in two separate incidents in 2000 and 2006, the state revoked EMT privileges of three people who declared two newborns dead when they were still alive. Both babies later died from lack of medical care.
While no system is foolproof, Knowlton, a former EMT, said tougher requirements could provide residents more protection.
“The biggest push-back is maybe one in 10,000 EMTs have done something wrong and all the rest are fine,” he said. “But you can’t put people in that position of vulnerability.”
Emergency medical technicians certified to provide basic medical care must demonstrate they have completed a 10-hour clinical training program and pass an exam. They are expected to know how to perform CPR, provide initial wound care, stabilize a broken bone, and extricate a victim at the scene of an accident. Paramedics certified to provide advanced life support must complete more in-depth training.
“Put yourself in the patient’s seat — you already expect a background check has occurred,” said Andy Lovell, chief of the Gloucester County EMS. “If you are unable to be a baseball coach, a nurse, a school board member without a background check, (an EMT) shouldn’t be able to come into a house without a background check.
For decades, much of New Jersey relied on volunteer emergency squads. As their ranks thinned in the 1990s, many communities hired private ambulance services to help out. The firms also saw an opportunity to expand to provide nonemergency transportation to doctor’s offices and hospitals.
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A private consultant studying the state’s system in 2007 declared it “in a state of crisis,” saying the quality of training, equipment and accountability varies by town, and squads are short-staffed. An internal health department summary of the report warned that without an overhaul, “the state will no longer be able to guarantee the responsive, pre-hospital and trauma care necessary to avoid death or serious impairment and disability.”
A coalition of paid and volunteer EMS professionals, nurses and 911 dispatchers came up with a plan that would put the state in charge of the system, giving it the power to set universal hiring, inspection and training standards. The plan formed the basis for the bill that passed last year.
It was supported by private ambulance firms but opposed by the New Jersey First Aid Council, which represents volunteer squads.
“We are not against background checks in any way, shape or form. We are concerned what it will cost the volunteer members,” said Edward Burdzy of Holland Township, the council’s executive director. “A lot of our member squads already have background checks done through local police departments.”
The Office of Legislative Services pegged the cost of providing state and FBI checks for the roughly 20,000 volunteer EMTs at $1.4 million when it did an analysis last year. Although the bill says volunteers won’t have to bear these costs, the State Police “has nothing budgeted for that,” Burdzy said. And the legislation doesn’t say whether the state or the municipalities will get stuck with the tab, he said.
First Aid Council lobbyist Nancy Pinkin said other requirements in the bill would make it hard for volunteer squads to survive. She said it’s a David-and-Goliath battle, with big private firms trying to expand their turf at the expense of volunteers “who, if you read the newspaper, do great things every day.”
The bill creates broader training standards, but the training fund is “bankrupt,” she said. “First-aiders have to raise money, and it’s very difficult to raise money.”
In his veto message, Christie said he would not support it unless Health Commissioner Mary O’Dowd first studied its impact on property taxes, the state budget, volunteerism and the necessity of mandatory background checks, among other things. Christie’s spokesman Michael Drewniak declined to comment last week.
