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Posted by: kwflatbed

By AARON NICODEMUS,

Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD —

A victim of the Puzzles Lounge attack has filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, alleging that New Bedford paramedics took too long transporting him to the hospital, were physically and verbally abusive, and shared private medical information without his permission.
Robert R. Perry of Dartmouth said the poor treatment he received was because he is a gay man who was attacked at a known gay bar.
"There wasn't just hatred in the bar that night," Mr. Perry said of the attack on Feb. 1, when 18-year old Jacob D. Robida attacked Mr. Perry and two other men with a hatchet and gun in what police have labeled a hate crime. "We had hatred in the ambulance, too."
When contacted, James Trout, director of New Bedford's EMS Department, said, "I don't have a comment."
Mayor Scott W. Lang, in an e-mail response to a letter Mr. Perry sent him, stated: "I was very glad to meet you on Saturday, February 4, 2006, and was grateful to see you were doing well given the terrible circumstances of your injuries. You can imagine how concerned I was to read the contents of your letter. I have forwarded a copy to the Acting Chief of Police, David Provencher. I assure you that the City of New Bedford will take your complaint very seriously."
Mr. Perry, 52, was struck once in the head by Mr. Robida with the hatchet, leaving a 41/2-inch gash that broke his cheekbone. He was also shot through the back, with the bullet leaving a 14-inch track through his body but not hitting any major organs or his spine. He said he was in pain after the attack, but still awake and aware of his surroundings.
Mr. Perry alleged the New Bedford paramedic treating him slammed an oxygen mask over his face when he asked repeatedly why the ambulance was not leaving for the hospital. Once at St. Luke's Hospital, Mr. Perry also alleged that New Bedford paramedics called his family without his permission and shared his personal medical information in a public place.
In his letter to Mayor Lang, Mr. Perry wrote that the paramedic treating him, whom he cannot identify, told him to "Shut the .... up" and slammed an oxygen mask over his face, telling him, "I'll fix you! This will shut you up!" Mr. Perry said the oxygen mask caused him more pain because his cheekbone was broken as a result of the hatchet attack at the bar.
As a director for clinical services for Mercy-General Ambulance Service in Boston, Mr. Perry said he knows intimately the procedures that paramedics are supposed to follow.
Mr. Perry filed his complaint with the Office of Emergency Medical Services at the DPH; he has also written a letter to Mayor Lang and to Attorney General Tom Reilly. The Standard-Times has received copies from Mr. Perry of his letter to Mayor Lang and to the AG's office, but has not received a copy of his complaint to the DPH.
A DPH spokeswoman asked the newspaper to file a public records request with the agency for a copy of the complaint.
Mr. Perry alleged the ambulance waited at Puzzles for 25 minutes before heading to St. Luke's Hospital.
"Twelve minutes on-scene for a gunshot victim in our system is considered a maximum, unless there is a reason such as entrapment, access, or rescuer safety. My on-scene time was twenty-five minutes," wrote Mr. Perry in his letter to Mayor Lang. "I feel that at least eighteen of them were in the back of a sitting ambulance, performing low-priority procedures while no one knew where my internal injuries were and how much internal hemorrhage was going on."
Mr. Perry, who has a wife and four children, said he came out as a gay man to his family about a year ago. He said he revealed his sexual orientation to friends over the course of last year and came out publicly at the beginning of this year.
He said he is friendly with the director of New Bedford's EMS service, Mr. Trout, as well as the assistant director, Steven Arruda. But he said he had to make a statement about his treatment.
"With the information above, I trust that you understand the pain I feel in writing a letter of complaint against my profession to a City Department which has meant to me nothing but friendships and quality EMS care for many years," Mr. Perry wrote in a letter to Mayor Lang. "However, for me to keep the secret of how I was treated and mistreated in the back of that ambulance would be such a disservice to the people of this City who deserve the very, very best. Any EMS provider who brings hatred into an ambulance call is a disgrace to his or her profession and a disgrace to the City they serve."
Contact Aaron Nicodemus at anicodemus@s-t.com

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Posted by: Irish Wampanoag

I wonder how intoxicated and belligerent Mr. Perry was at the scene especially at an establishment that primarily serves alcohol. I wonder if he suffered head injury do to that axe across the face 10 minute may have seemed like 25 minutes. I still dont see how it was determined by Mr. Perry as hatred towards him??? HUMMMMM?

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Another lawsuit brewing.

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Posted by: SOT

The world is against him....waa waaa waaa.

It's because I'm gay waaaa waaa waaa...

When will people get that not that many people who are trying to help you put that much effort into your sexual orientation when you are shot and carved up with an axe.

Maybe when he came out he also found out he was a doctor and didn't know it.

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Posted by: dcs2244

Another quest for money...get rich quick, be a (insert federally recognized victim's group here) and stick it to "the man", oppressor of the blameless.

I wonder who all these folks will blame their problems on once the "blue-eyed-devil" is a minority (or no more...).

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Posted by: Wolfman

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Posted by: KozmoKramer

With 2 sick parents over the last 5 years and more than a few calls to EMS (both in Tewksbury & NH), I've never seen or had my folks mention anything other than absolute professionalism; whether it was an EMT-P or a call First Responder.

Now I'm sure there could be a medic out there with a contempt for homosexuals, but I'm more likely to believe this gentleman was intoxicated, scared, in pain, and considering his training as a Paramedic, probably directing from the stretcher.
I doubt the claim against the medic until more info. comes to light...

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