A new law that affects paramedic jobs (Click here) in South Carolina is under debate.
Gov. Mark Sanford recently approved a law that will make certain emergency medical services data available to the public. Citizens will now have access to such things as incident reports and response times for the first time since 2004.
However, the public will not have access to the identities of emergency medical technicians, as the SC EMS Association argued that EMTs are just like any other healthcare worker who must be protected from unfair scrutiny.
The only people who will have access to the names of EMS personnel include patients who receive EMS care, relatives of deceased patients and representatives of their estates. Sen. Harvey Peeler, who pushed for the law, said concealing the identities of EMS personnel was a “fair compromise.”
“Whether a paramedic should be treated like a doctor or a nurse or like a policeman or firefighter is a debate for another day,” he told The Beaufort Gazette.
More debate on the current law is expected during the near future, as state leaders and local officials differ over the secret identity issue, with many saying EMS workers should be held to the same accountability standards as firefighters and police officers.
“All emergency responders, whether they are firefighters, EMTs, law enforcement officers or lifeguards, should be held to the highest of public standards and subject to local public scrutiny,” Tom Peeples, mayor of Hilton Head Island, previously wrote to lawmakers. “There is no legitimate reason to fear the release of EMTs’ names.”