Hernandez
Hernandez v. KWPH Enterprises
Opinion
lead Opinion
Dawson, J.
We hold in this case that emergency medical technicians (EMT’s) had no legal duty to prevent their voluntary charge from leaving their ambulance, despite their belief or suspicion that she was mentally unbalanced. Thus respondent EMT’s and their employer, KWPH Enterprises, doing business as American Ambulance, are not liable for the death of Mrs. Morena Hernandez, which occurred when she was struck by a motor vehicle after leaving the ambulance. We affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to respondents. Viewed in the light most favorable to appellants, the evidence is as follows.
FACTS
Morena Hernandez had been acting strangely for four days prior to her death. She believed someone had placed a spell on her, that she was being followed, that she was bewitched. She suspected the food she was given had been poisoned. On November 2, 1997, her husband (appellant Carlos Hernandez) and one of her brothers took Mrs. Hernandez to the emergency room at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles, hoping that the hospital would admit and treat her. The physician who saw Mrs. Hernandez did not admit her but did prescribe a medication, Ativan.