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Thomas Stavoy, an obstetrician for Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, but he didn't accept the transfer, deciding that Halifax wasn't the right hospital for such an extremely premature baby. John Milton, decided to transfer her elsewhere because his hospital didn't have an obstetrician or the right equipment to handle a premature baby, according to court records, Milton talked to Dr. In 2003, Chess, who lives in southeast Volusia, had originally come to the emergency room at Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach for premature labor pains. The boy, Addison Chess, survived but suffered brain damage and has cerebral palsy. "That is $10 million that comes out of the ability to provide care, and the community will suffer because of that cost." Last month, a Volusia jury held EVAC liable for transporting Margarita Chess, six months pregnant when she gave birth to her son in the ambulance en route to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando. "EMTs and paramedics will go on the call until lawsuits like this break the bank and they can't go anymore," said Ben Hinson, past president of the American Ambulance Association and owner of Mid- Georgia Ambulance Service.
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Ultimately, the verdict could affect how other emergency calls are handled, and whether EVAC in particular, can afford to stay in business. Hearings are scheduled for June and July.
Volusia county evac trial#
EVAC and the county are asking the trial judge to reconsider the jury's decision. "If this verdict stands, every paramedic is going to second-guess themselves: 'Am I going to get caught like EVAC did?'" That fallout, and the financial liability to EVAC ambulance service and possibly Volusia County, will be key questions as the verdict faces legal challenges. Heightman, editor in chief at the Journal of Emergency Services, a leading national publication for the emergency medical field. After a jury decided that a Volusia County ambulance service should pay $10 million for the premature birth of boy in one of its vehicles, paramedics across the nation wondered: Could they too be held liable for their most basic duty of transporting a patient? "We go wherever we are called.