Judge Recommends Dismissing 911 Error Lawsuit

Three years after the death of a woman in rural Northumberland County (Penn.), a federal judge has recommended her husband’s negligence lawsuit be dismissed because there was no violation of the victim’s constitutional rights. The ruling is subject to an appeal by either party, but could become final within two weeks. In his lawsuit filed in Feb. 2013, John Lamey said his 50 year-old wife Marie collapsed at their home, and he dialed 911. However, his call was routed to an adjacent county, and it took EMS units 18 minutes to arrive. EMS units from Northumberland County would have been closer and arrived sooner, the lawsuit claims. Marie Lamey died later at a hospital, and John Lamey claims the response delay was the proximate cause. The lawsuit notes that Northumberland County had turned on a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system one month prior to the incident, and that fire and EMS agencies had reported many addressing errors. “The misinformation was the result of a problem with the mapping software used by the 911 centers,” the lawsuit states. The county filed a response to the lawsuit stating , “does not allege a violation of a right secure by the Constitution and laws of the United (States).” Now U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick has agreed, saying the Fourtheenth Amendment to the Constitution generally confers “no affirmative right to government aid.” She listed several previous court rulings that uphold the opinion. In Lamey’s lawsuit, he “failed to state a plausible claim of violation.” Download (pdf) the pertinent lawsuit documents here.