Ex-Paramedic Faces Charges of Turning His Back on Dying Man

A former Los Angeles Fire Department paramedic who allegedly ignored the pleas of a dying alcoholic that he be taken to a hospital was charged Monday with felony and misdemeanor counts of gross negligence in the man’s death.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said two felony counts of filing a false Fire Department report about the incident and 20 misdemeanor counts of negligence, incompetence and filing false reports have been lodged against Robert Dougherty, 48.

Dougherty, fire officials said, is the first paramedic in the 16-year history of the city’s paramedic program to face criminal charges in a case resulting in a death.

Now a resident of Guerneville in Northern California, Dougherty is scheduled to appear Friday in Los Angeles Municipal Court for arraignment. Dougherty referred all comment to his attorney, who could not be reached Monday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Kelberg said the charges involve an incident last Sept. 23, when Dougherty and his partner responded to a telephone call for help from Melvin Wagner, 42, a partially paralyzed alcoholic living in a Wilmington apartment.

The complaint alleges that Dougherty, then a senior paramedic, and James Mihalka, a paramedic of lesser rank, arrived at the apartment at about 8:30 a.m. Wagner complained that he had been sick for several months and asked to be taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Kelberg said Dougherty declined to check Wagner’s vital signs and refused to take him by ambulance to the hospital. Moreover, Dougherty later wrote phony vital signs in his log report, Kelberg said.

Dougherty and Mihalka were called back to Wagner’s apartment five hours later by the victim’s social worker, who asked that Wagner be taken to the hospital. Dougherty again refused, declining to even look at Wagner, Kelberg said.

Dougherty and Mihalka, at about 3 p.m., made one last run to Wagner’s apartment. They found the man dead, and a coroner’s autopsy concluded that death was due to internal hemorrhaging caused by cirrhosis of the liver.

Kelberg said that because a one-year statute of limitations will expire shortly on the misdemeanor charges, the complaint was filed prior to the completion of an investigation into whether evidence supports a homicide charge against Dougherty.

He said no charges were filed against Mihalka, because his subordinate ranking “serves as legal, relevant evidence diminishing his responsibility in this case.”

District attorney’s spokesman Al Albergate said the Fire Department has since changed its policy with respect to the responsibilities of a subordinate.

Dougherty was forced to leave the Fire Department after surrendering his paramedic certificate under a settlement with the county Department of Health Services, Albergate said.

Jon Fasana, chief of paramedics, said Monday that Mihalka’s paramedic certificate was suspended for 30 days earlier this year by the Department of Health Services.