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Old 04-10-2006, 05:30 AM   #15 (permalink)
The_Jazz
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Location: Chicago
OK, I'm going to split hairs here with my opinion on what should happen IF the allegations prove to be true. Obviously the entire recordings need to be reviewed.

First and foremost, did the operator commit a crime? No. She didn't kill this woman, nor did she show willful disregard for her. She made a professional judgement that the kid was making a prank call or had misdialed. She's a trained professional, and she used that training and her experience to make this decision. Granted, it was the wrong one, but she did nothing criminal. If the victim had seen a doctor the day before the incident and didn't diagnose her impending death from - for example - a lung tumor after seeing a chest x-ray, would the doctor be charged with something? No, because he made a professional decision/diagnosis.

Leaving the criminal aside, the city should make sure that their insurance premiums are paid up because those limits are going to get tapped. Again, making the assumption that the allegations prove true, negligent professional decisions are certainly actionable in court, and the city's attorney would be foolish to let it get in front of a jury. The city needs to find out how much the lawyer is looking for, try to negotiate it down a bit and then write the check. Their employee screwed up, pure and simple. Going back to my doctor analogy, missing a big tumor on a chest xray would certainly be cause for action and most likely a finding for the plaintiff. How hard would it be to find a 911 expert to say that at the very least the operator should have sent out a cop to check on the situation? The city should cut this employee lose and start trying to minimize the damage.
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