Emts Lacked Training To Know Baby Was Alive Baby Found In Toilet Appeared Dead When Found By Firefighters

Firefighters who found a newborn baby in a toilet hadn’t received enough training to recognize she was alive, said a doctor who investigated the incident.

The emergency medical technicians, who receive 120 hours of training, followed procedures when they examined the baby girl, decided she was stillborn and put her in a plastic bag for medical waste, said Dr. Stephen Olmstead of King County Emergency Medical Services.

A paramedic, who receives 4,000 hours of training, might have recognized the baby was alive, Olmstead said.

The baby’s 16-year-old mother told her family she didn’t know she was pregnant. The EMTs found the newborn in the toilet of the girl’s Burienarea home June 6.

The baby exhibited all the signs of a stillborn, Olmstead said: “Cold, lifeless, not breathing, no detectable pulse, blue, no reflexes.”

The EMTs reached the logical conclusion dictated by their training and the information they gathered at the house, Olmstead said.

“The challenge for those of us who are training EMTs is to decide what information can we give them in that amount of time (120 hours) to make sure this never happens again,” Olmstead said.

The EMT training schedule is so intense that something else would have to be omitted to make room for additional training, he said.

“They’re supposed to get a tremendous amount of information in 120 hours,” he said.

Officials at the North Highline Fire District, whose firefighters handled the infant, have decided to give their EMTs extra pediatric training, Olmstead said.

The 7-pound baby girl was released last week from Children’s Hospital and Medical Center. Child Protective Services decided the child would be safe at home.