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Multiple members of the Rialto City Fire Department have been placed on leave after a disturbing video showed two paramedics refusing to enter a healthcare facility in Rialto, California, to treat a patient suffering from cardiac arrest.
The paramedics cited "some COVID-19 law" and demanded that staff members bring the individual outside.
The Rialto Police Department released body camera footage showing an officer speaking to the paramedics. After speaking with the two masked paramedics, the officer decides to go inside and help the patient.
"They are not going to come in," the officer told the staff as he rushed inside. "They're saying it's a state law that they cannot come in."
The officer ran to the patient's room, where staff members were frantically trying to save the man's life. The officer grabbed the bed, which did not have wheels, and started pushing it down the hallway. With the help of a nurse, the bed was moved outside, where other paramedics began performing life-saving measures.
"Despite being in their line of sight, fire personnel still insisted on [redacted] being brought to them outside before they began life saving efforts and made no effort to assist me in getting [redacted] outside," the officer wrote in his police report.
One of the two paramedics who refused to enter the building didn't help and questioned staff members about the incident.
The patient was transported to a nearby hospital and was pronounced dead.
Rialto City Fire Department Acting Chief Brian Park called the body camera footage "troubling" and said that the two paramedics have been suspended pending an investigation into the matter.
"Our Fire Department's mission is to provide excellence in responding to medical emergencies through 'compassionate service.' As Acting-Fire Chief, I will ensure the independence of the outside investigation," Park said in a statement.
"I also want to recognize and thank the Rialto Police Department and the Rialto Post-Acute Care Center nurses for their extraordinary efforts and heroism to save the patient's life as our responders failed to act to our Fire Department's expectations."
The California Emergency Medical Services Authority told KTTV that paramedics cannot refuse to treat patients.
"Upon acceptance of a call assignment, California paramedics cannot refuse service (i.e., assessment, treatment, transport) unless directed by law enforcement or if the scene is unsafe. Local protocols may change instructions for the conditions to assess, treat, and/or transport."