UNC Journalism student files FOI request in EMS case

UNC Journalism student files FOI request in EMS case

On August 12, Chapel Hill High School football player Atlas Fraley called 911 from his home and said he was hurting. Orange County EMS responded to the call. A few hours later, Fraley's parents returned home and found their son dead.

What happened in the few minutes EMS was at the house? What are the other details of this tragedy?

We don't know. All the officials involved are saying little, even nearly three weeks later.

Ashley Lopez, A student in the political reporting class I teach at UNC-Chapel Hill, this week filed freedom of information requests with Orange County EMS officials and with the Board of Orange County Commissioners. She seeks emails relating to all EMS-related discussion, including the Aug. 12 incident.

My class of advanced reporting students has been working on a two-pronged assignment: 1) find out as much information as possible about the day the high school student died and 2) take a more in-depth look at Orange County EMS and see how well it is serving citizens.

The story is important. Officials had declined to discuss the case, saying only that it was "being investigated." Area news media, after initial reports, seemed to ignore the story.

Additionally, a story by the Chapel Hill Herald in July reported problems with one Orange County EMS unit.

But the journalism students ran into a stone wall of silence from officials up and down the line. EMS officials, county commissioners, UNC emergency medicine officials, all refused to discuss any aspect of the case, citing HIPAA regulations on patient privacy and "the investigation." Never mind that HIPAA has nothing to do with EMS generally or with county policy.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 3:36 pm

 
 

Inserted from <http://weblogs.jomc.unc.edu/talkpolitics/?p=400>