Recent EMS lawsuit news has been dominated by a run of wrongful death cases, criminal prosecutions of paramedics, and multi-million-dollar verdicts that together are reshaping how courts treat ambulance crews’ conduct. Between 2024 and 2026, juries and judges have addressed crews that left scenes without reaching patients, forced chemical sedation during police encounters, prone restraint deaths, impaired ambulance drivers, and contract failures by private providers. The cases below are the ones setting the direction.
Philadelphia Sued Twice Over Crews That Left Without Reaching Patients
Philadelphia is defending two wrongful death lawsuits filed in March 2025 alleging EMS crews left scenes without providing care to patients who later died.1ABC News. Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Over Philadelphia EMS Response
Roberto Santiago Sr., 57, activated a medical monitoring device on April 24, 2024. EMS arrived at about 2:55 a.m. and was directed to his unit by a neighbor. After knocking and getting no response at 3:01 a.m., the crew left without attempting to force entry. Santiago died of cardiac arrest. In the second case, Geneva Mackrides, 74, activated a Life Alert device on December 23, 2023. Crews responded to her building but departed after failing to reach her. Her son later found her incapacitated through a home security camera.1ABC News. Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Over Philadelphia EMS Response
Both suits, filed by the Igwe Firm in Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, seek compensatory and punitive damages. The city has said only that the cases “remain active.” The central question is whether patient abandonment doctrine extends to crews that never physically reach the patient. Abandonment is treated as a form of medical negligence and requires proof of duty, breach, and causation.2EMSAAC. EMS Patient Abandonment Legal Standards
Elijah McClain Paramedic Convictions Vacated, New Trials Ordered
On June 4, 2026, the Colorado Court of Appeals vacated the criminally negligent homicide convictions of paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, and ordered new trials on those charges.3CPR News. Elijah McClain Paramedic Verdicts Overturned McClain, 23, was stopped by Aurora police while walking home, restrained, and then injected with ketamine by the paramedics. He never regained consciousness.
A jury had convicted both men in late 2023. The appellate panel found that the trial judge failed to properly instruct the jury on the standard of care, even after jurors asked during deliberations which standard applied. The court held that criminally negligent homicide required the jury to measure the paramedics against a reasonable emergency medical professional treating a patient in McClain’s condition.4Law Week Colorado. Court of Appeals Opinions for June 4, 2026
Cichuniec’s separate second-degree assault conviction was upheld. Both had already completed their original sentences. Cichuniec’s five-year term was reduced to four years of probation in 2024, and Cooper served 14 months with work release and probation.5U.S. News. What to Know About New Trials Ordered for Two Paramedics in the Death of Elijah McClain Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has said he will ask the state Supreme Court to reverse the appellate ruling and restore the convictions.3CPR News. Elijah McClain Paramedic Verdicts Overturned
Chemical Sedation Lawsuits Are Multiplying
The McClain case opened wider scrutiny of paramedics who sedate people during police encounters. Several civil suits are now moving through federal and state courts.
In September 2025, the family of Nathan Hoang, a 41-year-old Marine veteran, filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Hayward, California, several officers, and the private ambulance company Falck. Hoang was tased multiple times in March 2025, handcuffed, and placed on a gurney, where a Falck paramedic injected him with midazolam. He reported breathing and heart problems within minutes, went unresponsive, and was declared brain dead nine days later. The complaint alleges the paramedic failed to conduct a reasonable visual examination and failed to take precautions against intravenous injection.6EMS1. Lawsuit Alleges Paramedic Sedation Failures in Calif. In-Custody Death The coroner ruled the death an accident, citing a heart attack, methamphetamine use, an enlarged heart, and blunt force trauma. Falck said it “stands behind the care” its paramedics provide.
An Associated Press investigation counted 94 cases nationally between 2012 and 2021 in which people died in police custody after medics injected sedatives, including 16 in California. Nearly half of the California deaths occurred in the San Francisco Bay Area, and almost all involved American Medical Response administering midazolam. No medics or officers were criminally charged in the Bay Area cases.7Mercury News. Investigative Report Sheds New Light on Deaths of Bay Area Men in Police Custody
One of them is now heading to trial. A federal civil rights and wrongful death suit over the 2021 death of Ivan Gutzalenko in Richmond, California, survived a motion to dismiss in March 2025. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen questioned what “medical purpose” was served by injecting midazolam into a person who was not thrashing or resisting. The complaint alleges AMR failed to properly train the paramedic and lacked formal physician-approved protocols for the drug.8Richmondside. Richmond Forced Sedation Series Recapped
In Connecticut, a suit filed in Stamford Superior Court in 2025 alleges that a Greenwich EMS paramedic forcibly injected Jack Nastahowski with 400 milligrams of ketamine during a May 2023 encounter, causing acute respiratory failure and six days on a mechanical ventilator. The complaint says the paramedic administered the drug simply to sedate the patient so responders could move on.9EMS1. Conn. Man Sues EMS, Police, and Town After Ketamine Injection
Springfield Paramedics Charged With Murder in Prone Restraint Death
Two LifeStar EMS paramedics in Springfield, Illinois, were charged with first-degree murder in the December 2022 death of Earl Moore Jr. Prosecutors alleged Peter Cadigan and Peggy Finley strapped Moore face-down on a gurney and tightened restraints across his back. The autopsy attributed his death to compressional and positional asphyxia caused by prone restraint on the stretcher.10ABC 7 Chicago. Paramedics Charged With Murder After Patient Dies
In April 2026, Cadigan pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter under a partially negotiated agreement, with sentencing set for June 23, 2026, and a potential term of two to five years.11Capitol City Now. Plea in Earl Moore Death The cases were severed in December 2025, and Finley was scheduled for a separate trial in June 2026.12WICS Newschannel 20. Cadigan Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter in Death of Earl Moore Jr. The Moore family has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit, represented by attorneys Ben Crump and Bob Hilliard.
Recent Verdicts and Settlements Against EMS Providers
$15 Million Alabama Verdict Against HEMSI
In May 2024, a Limestone County, Alabama, jury awarded Gloria Owen $15 million after her husband, Robert Owen, died during a medical transport on April 23, 2019. The suit alleged EMT Jacob Steele, the ambulance driver, was impaired. A coworker had reported to HEMSI management that morning that Steele “appeared impaired,” but he was permitted to drive and was never drug-tested.13AL.com. Jury Awards $15 Million to Alabama Woman Whose Husband Died After Being Driven by Paramedic Under the Influence
Plaintiff’s counsel presented video showing Steele swerving out of his lane, using earbuds, propping his feet on the patient’s stretcher, and falling asleep. Owen suffered a severe heart attack during the trip and his calls for help went unheard. The attorneys also alleged HEMSI had fired and rehired Steele after a similar incident less than two months earlier, and that management deleted videos of his prior conduct.14WHNT News. Limestone County Family Awarded $15 Million in Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against HEMSI HEMSI said it would not appeal.
$2 Million Phoenix Settlement Over Toddler’s Death
Phoenix settled for $2 million in the death of Abraham Clugston, a two-year-old who died in April 2022 after first responders allegedly downplayed his seizure as a fever, advised his mother against transport, and suggested over-the-counter medication. The child was found unresponsive five hours later. A medical expert in the case said transport after the first EMS evaluation would have given Abraham a greater than 90 percent chance of survival.15WOWT. City Settles $2 Million for Toddler’s Death That Parents Blame on EMT Negligence Arizona later passed legislation prohibiting emergency responders from offering a “presumptive medical diagnosis” as a basis to discourage patients from accepting hospital transport.16Arizona Central. Phoenix to Pay Millions in Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Toddler
$2.75 Million Hillsborough County Settlement
Hillsborough County, Florida, paid $2.75 million in 2020 to settle a wrongful death suit over Crystle Galloway, a 30-year-old mother of three. On July 4, 2018, a four-person crew led by Lt. John Mike Morris responded to a 911 call for Galloway, who was vomiting with a headache and light sensitivity two weeks after a C-section. The crew concluded she had had “too much to drink” and left without taking her vital signs or transporting her. Their documentation falsely stated no patient was found.17Tampa Bay Times. Hillsborough Okays $2.75 Million Settlement for Paramedic’s Inaction Prior to Woman’s Death Her mother drove her to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with acute brain bleeding consistent with a stroke, and she died five days later. Investigators found the paramedics grossly negligent.18FOX 13 News. Hillsborough County Agrees to $2.75 Million Settlement in 2018 Death of Crystle Galloway
Salem, Oregon Sues Falck for $6.9 Million Over Ambulance Contract
Ambulance litigation is not limited to clinical failures. On July 1, 2025, the city of Salem, Oregon, sued Falck Northwest for $6.9 million, alleging the company failed to meet deployment, response time, and patient delivery requirements from January 2022 through February 2025. The complaint says Falck missed minimum weekly deployment requirements for 104 weeks, 76 of them consecutive, and that the Salem Fire Department responded to 9,259 incidents Falck should have handled, at significant cost in overtime, fuel, and medical supplies.19Statesman Journal. Salem Sues Falck Northwest for Failure to Meet Ambulance Service Requirements Salem’s council voted unanimously in March 2024 to terminate the Falck contract and return ambulance services to the fire department as of July 1, 2025. Falck has called the claims “meritless,” citing industry-wide staffing shortages and its response to more than 230,000 emergencies.
EMSA Data Breach Class Action Nears Final Approval
Patients can also sue EMS agencies over data. A class action settlement is pending in Quick and Lance v. Emergency Medical Services Authority, arising from a February 10–13, 2024 breach in which unauthorized parties accessed personally identifiable and protected health information held by EMSA. Preliminary approval was granted November 7, 2025, with final approval set for April 6, 2026.20EMSA Settlement. Quick and Lance v. Emergency Medical Services Authority Settlement Affected individuals can claim up to $3,000 for documented out-of-pocket losses, including up to four hours of lost time at $15 per hour, and all class members are eligible for two years of free credit monitoring.
Why EMS Lawsuits Are Hard to Win
If you are considering a claim against an ambulance service, know the doctrines that filter these cases. A negligence claim requires duty, breach, causation, and damages. Statutory immunity and sovereign immunity shield most public EMS agencies from all but egregious failures. Maryland requires proof of gross negligence to overcome immunity, and Texas offers broad protection under its Tort Claims Act.21JEMS. EMS Liability for Delayed Response Times
Qualified immunity adds another layer for EMS personnel who are state actors. Roughly 60 percent of EMS agencies operate within governmental structures that make them inherently state actors, and courts have recognized that paramedics exercise clinical discretion in high-pressure settings. Private ambulance companies face a more fact-intensive inquiry; the Second Circuit has held that a private volunteer ambulance corps was not a state actor for federal civil rights purposes.22George Mason Law Review. Qualified Immunity and the Prehospital Medical Provider
One boundary worth naming: no published appellate decision has affirmed a monetary award against an ambulance provider based solely on a late response. The cases that break through tend to involve something more, whether that is affirmative misconduct, falsified records, an impaired employee, or forced sedation. Those are the fact patterns driving the current wave of EMS lawsuit news.