Public Employee Press

Locals hit EMS for caps on doctor visits

The professional ambulance crews of Locals 2507 and 3621 are the first line of defense for New Yorkers during emergencies — as they bravely demonstrated on Sept. 11, 2001.

But when these heroes need city government to step up to the plate and address their medical concerns, the city’s response is shamefully slow and focused more on cost than care.

Recently, a dozen retired members of Uniformed EMT’s & Paramedics Local 2507 and Uniformed EMS Officers Local 3621 who get Workers’ Compensation benefits for 9/11-related illnesses received letters from the city Law Department limiting them to just two doctors visits per month.

Former EMS worker William Dahl receives Workers’ Compensation disability payments because he developed severe respiratory problems after working amid the contaminated smoke and asbestos-laden dust of the 9/11 disaster site. His doctor called for a routine scan to see if the nodes on his lungs have grown. Dahl waited from Oct. 21 until December for approval, which was finally denied. “The supervisor told me it was a diagnostic test, and I was only authorized for symptomatic treatment,” he said.

He received one of the Law Dept. letters telling him that symptomatic treatments could only be twice a month. Should his condition worsen, Dahl worries that he might need more than two visits a month to a pulmonologist. “What am I supposed to do for the rest of the month — choke?” he asked.

Retired from EMS and living in South Carolina, Leonard Schwade has gone through a similar ordeal. He’s had eight surgeries and a case of meningitis that almost killed him and now suffers from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a painful nerve disorder.

The letter from the Law Dept. came on top of other medical payment problems. The city hasn’t paid the two doctors he sees in South Carolina since 2005. “So doctors don’t want to treat me, because they know they aren’t going to get paid,” he said.

Referring to the situation as “morally reprehensible,” Local 2507 President Patrick Bahnken encouraged members to take differences over service denials to the state Workers’ Compensation Board for adjudication.

“We have a serious problem with the Law Dept. making its own rules,” said Local 3621 President Thomas K. Eppinger. “We have expressed our concerns to Gov. Spitzer with regards to the limitation of visits and the delay of payments,” said Bahnken.“This is an additional burden for our members.”

The locals are working with City Council Member Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., who chairs the Civil Service and Labor Committee and is considering holding a hearing on the symptomatic treatment issue.