Jury finds EMT unit negligent

Gasping for air on the 911 recording, the 45-year-old Chester County woman said she was having difficulty breathing.

Early on Feb. 22, 2004, Judy Pomerleau of Lower Oxford Township told a 911 operator that she had a history of heart and asthma problems but would try to unlock her door. "Oh, Lord," she is heard repeating.

Pomerleau never made it to the door, and yesterday a Chester County Court civil jury concluded that Southern Chester County Emergency Medical Services was negligent for failing to break into the home. However, the panel decided that the negligence did not play a substantial role in causing Pomerleau's death and awarded no damages to her estate.

Pomerleau's relatives, represented by attorney Joseph P. Green Jr., sued the agency in June 2005, alleging that the haste of emergency responders in leaving Pomerleau's residence when no one answered the door or telephone contributed to her death.

Defense attorney Brooks Roderick Foland argued that Francis "Jody" Schiavelli III, the lead paramedic, responded appropriately because the 911 call-taker did not tell the dispatcher that Pomerleau was going to try to unlock the door.

"There's no duty to find a person under the law. There's a duty to act reasonably," Foland said in his closing argument.

Foland said medical evidence suggested that Pomerleau, who died of respiratory arrest, would not have survived even with treatment.

Green countered that Pomerleau had "a right to fight for her life" that was denied by the premature departure of emergency workers, who testified that they could not see inside the house.

About an hour after emergency workers left the residence, Pomerleau's nephew, Kevin Tabor, came home and found his aunt lifeless on the floor, the phone clutched in her hand. After a second 911 call, she was taken to Southern Chester County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 2:20 a.m.

Responding to the verdict, Robert Hotchkiss Jr., chief executive officer of Southern Chester County Medical Services, disagreed with the jury's contention that the agency was negligent.

"We believe our paramedic was following the protocols," he said. "We see tragedy every day; this was a tragic case."