911 Incident Brings $50 Million Award

[Guest guest]

Here's something that may be of interest to most of us. I can't

speak to the " 26 rings " during the transfer (I would assume that it

was on the tapes - IRC, phones usually work on a six second cycle,

so that would be approx 2.5 minutes - I doubt the caller started

counting at the begining), but an overall 8.5 minute response time

doesn't seem that unreasonable to me (but I work in a more rural

area, so folks from more urban settings feel free to correct me).

I'm sure there was more to it, but...

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©2000 Law.com

911 Incident Brings $50 Million Award

Mere minutes cost millions in Chicago ambulance verdict, largest ever

personal-injury judgment against city

Margaret Cronin Fisk

The National Law Journal

December 13, 2000

A jury has ordered the city of Chicago to pay $50 million to the

parents of a 19-year-old man who died during an asthma attack while

waiting for an ambulance.

ph and Debra Gant alleged that their son died because the city's

911 system failed to respond to their calls, and the ambulance they

called arrived too late. The verdict was the largest-ever personal

injury or wrongful death judgment against the city of Chicago, said

plaintiffs' attorney M. McMahon of Chicago's Costello

Ltd.

Gant, a long-term asthmatic, had a severe attack on the

morning of March 16, 1997, McMahon said. When Ms. Gant called 911 at

10:58 a.m., a 911 call taker in the police station transferred the

call to the fire department, which " didn't pick up for a minute, and

the ambulance was not dispatched until 11 a.m., " McMahon said. In the

meantime, Mr. Gant had passed out. His mother called 911 again. The

phone rang 26 times without an answer, McMahon alleged.

When the call was finally completed, the 911 operator at the fire

department gave no instructions on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The

ambulance arrived at six and a half minutes after 11 a.m. By then it

was too late to revive him. Gant v. City of Chicago, No. 97-L-3579

(Cir. Ct., Cook Co., Ill.).

The plaintiffs alleged that several failures -- including the 911

supervisor in the fire station going for lunch, and allowing another

worker to go, leaving no one available to answer the Gants' call in

time, and the ambulance taking more than six minutes to arrive,

although just one block away -- constituted " willful and wanton

misconduct, " the standard for erasing municipal immunity.

The city claimed the ambulance responded as quickly as possible and

that a quicker response would not have saved him.

" The paramedics said the parents found him unconscious and that . . .

he looked like he had been dead 30 minutes, " said McMahon.

They also claimed there was heavy traffic. Tapes of the calls

disproved the paramedics' claims, he alleged.

The city will appeal the verdict.