2 Firefighters Suspended Without Pay After Getting Doctor To Declare Live Woman Dead

Two Denver firefighters who asked a doctor to declare a woman dead even though she was alive have been suspended without pay.

The incident took place on June 24 when Lieutenant Patrick Lopez and firefighter Marshall Henry responded to a man's request to check up on his daughter who had undergone stomach surgery, The Denver Post reported, citing a disciplinary letter it had obtained.

Denver police Officer Eugene McComas, who was also present at the scene, entered the residence and found the woman inside. The officer then went out and informed the two firefighters that the woman's skin was discolored and fluids that smelled of decomposition were leaking out of her.

McComas told the firefighters they no longer had to go inside the woman's home as she was "obviously dead," Lopez claimed in a statement, as per KIRO 7.

However, neither McComas nor any other person present at the scene was unable to remember any of this exchange, according to the Post.

Lopez then called the emergency department physician at Denver Health Medical Center for a formal pronouncement of death. He passed the phone to Henry while the line was still ringing.

Based on a letter obtained by the outlet, Henry told the physician that the woman had no pulse, claiming he had assessed her himself. He also said that she was "in an advanced state of death," following which the doctor pronounced her dead.

The firefighters eventually left, and McComas went back inside the residence. It was then that the police officer saw the woman moving. He called the fire department and ambulance back to the address, and the woman was transported to a local hospital where she underwent treatment. She managed to survive, the outlet reported.

As a disciplinary measure, Lopez has been demoted from lieutenant to firefighter and will be serving 336 hours of unpaid suspension. He will also not be eligible for promotion in the next five years.

Henry, on the other hand, will be serving a 240-hour unpaid suspension and will have his "emergency medical technician" certification suspended.

"The serious nature of this misconduct cannot be understated — the patient was pronounced, though she was in fact alive, and the medical care she deserved was delayed," Mary Dulacki, chief deputy executive director of the Denver Department of Public Safety, noted in a letter, according to the outlet. "The integrity of the city heavily relies upon the faith and confidence of the public in its public safety services. The embarrassing failure to the patient in this incident demonstrated an obvious compromise to that integrity."