Massachusetts Suspends Emergency Workers

Massachusetts is suspending more than 200 emergency medical technicians for falsifying training records, following the completion of an 18-month investigation.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said Wednesday that 207 EMTs will have their licenses suspended for 45 days to nine months, depending on the severity of the falsifications. The state is permanently revoking the licenses of two technicians.

The emergency workers are charged with saying that they completed trainings they never attended in order to gain re-certifications.

Department of Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach called it a "systematic effort" to falsify re-certification requirements.

"We found (about) 200 EMTs who knowingly signed up and paid for these trainings, fully aware that they would never be held," Auerbach said.

Auerbach said there have been no complaints of inappropriate care due to EMTs failing to go through re-certification courses.

The Department of Public Health has referred the matter to the Attorney General's Office.

The emergency workers have the ability to repeal their suspensions.

The state has about 24,000 emergency medical technicians.