Last week, after an EMS lieutenant was exposed by the NY Post for his racist, anti-semitic, and sexist tweets, the FDNY's Bureau of Investigations and Trials were said to be poring over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram looking for members’ offensive posts before anything else got into the media. But it seems they didn't act quick enough: the Post has a story today all about how FDNY EMS workers (including now-suspended "Bad Lieutenant" Timothy Dluhos) like to put grisly, graphic photos of the ill, sick or dying online.
In particular, there is a Facebook group page called EMT/Paramedic that includes extremely graphic material, including some of the photos which the Post found. Most of the photos there include this disclaimer: "This is a Medical Site for Medical Professionals and this Picture is for EDUCATIONAL and TRAINING Purposes only." One Facebook user identifying himself as FDNY EMT Anthony Palmigiano posted a photo of a man with a gaping neck wound (a "table saw injury"). The victim’s face is clearly visible, a likely violation of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which prohibits the unauthorized release of patient information.
When confronted by the Post, Palmigiano claimed “someone hacked into my account and posted this. It’s absurd.” Then there's EMS Lt. Timothy Dluhos, 34, who posted the above photo of a woman in a wheelchair with "Wide Load" photoshopped onto it. Brooklyn FDNY EMT Mike Vale posted shots of patients in the back of an ambulance, including a man holding an ice pack on his head, on Flickr and Tumblr. He told the Post, “I am being punished for it right now,” Vale said. “What I’ve done has been taken care of. I’m waiting to be called in.” FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon added that Vale has now been suspended for 30 days, and they've launched a probe of Palmigiano.
Former FDNY EMT Steve O'Brien claims he resigned from the FDNY over his Tumblr called “Allons-y!” (guess he's a Doctor Who fan?) where he posted photos of patients and let off steam about his job. Gribbon said O’Brien and another former EMT, Chris Ebdon, were forced to resign over pictures they posted. O'Brien is now working as an EMT in Yonkers.
“My opinions of the filth I have to put up with on a daily basis; the savagery I endure for a meager salary, the abuse I take for people who cant be bothered to take care of them selves,” O'Brien wrote on his Tumblr (it's unclear whether he's restarted it now). Hmm, does that savagery extend to the friends of Dluhos who tweeted death threats to the Post writer who broke the story on him?
