Bellingham Fire Department personnel made 15 training attempts to intubate a dead man as he lay in a body bag on the floor of the apparatus bay at Station 1, according to an investigation into the incident submitted Sept. 4 by a Seattle law group and released by the city Wednesday to The Bellingham Herald.
The report also said witnesses told investigators that “tube checks” — additional intubations on a patient after life-saving efforts have ended — were “a widespread prior practice of paramedics” of the Bellingham Fire Department.
Sarah I. Hale, a partner at Summit Law Group interviewed 20 people — most of them in person between Aug. 15 and 16 — in connection with the investigation and reviewed documents, including training records, a redacted patient record and job descriptions before submitting her report to Bellingham Assistant City Attorney James Erb.