Paramedic before the end: "No one cares what kind of person you are"

Created: 07/06/2022, 09:09

By: Michael Acker

Andreas Foerster (44) in front of the Red Cross headquarters in Ebersberg, where he regularly works.

© sro

Andreas Förster has been a paramedic for over 20 years with around 15,000 missions, some of them life-saving.

But by the end of next year it will be over.

Then he can no longer help.

About a man who feels he has been treated unfairly.

Grafing/Ebersberg

– Because a well-functioning rescue service was taken for granted for too long, it has now become an emergency itself and must be stabilized quickly.

Missing staff has so far been compensated for by overtime.

Also in Ebersberg.

Paramedic in Ebersberg: failed the exam

Andreas Foerster (44), who has been running a company in Grafing since 2018, has been working as a paramedic for the Ebersberg Red Cross district association for over 20 years.

Until he became self-employed full-time, since then part-time with 18 hours a week.

Even after many years, he still does the backbreaking job with passion, but he won't be able to do it much longer.

Because: Andreas Foerster failed one of three parts of the practical test in his supplementary test for paramedics.

This means that he will no longer be allowed to work on patients from the end of 2023.

Allegation of "patient endangerment": Doctors confirm wrong

If you don't pass the exam, you have to live with the consequences - one is inclined to think.

But paramedic Andreas Foerster says: The test was wrongly rated as "failed", a "patient hazard" as it is accused of by the examiners never took place.

The Grafinger has this confirmed by two doctors (one of whom trains emergency doctors and examines them).

In the end without success, even the use of the Grafinger CSU member of the state parliament Thomas Huber cannot do anything: The government of Upper Bavaria reacts to an objection by Foerster's lawyer with the words: "No formal or material deficiencies could be found."

Transitional period for paramedics until the end of 2023

At the end of 2023, the transitional regulation for paramedics set by the legislature ends.

It is imperative that they qualify as emergency paramedics if they want to continue to be responsible for the care of emergency patients in the future.

If they don't do that or don't pass the exam, it's over.

Andreas Foerster, for example, is likely to continue working for the BRK from 2024, but then “only” as an ambulance driver.

And that after around 15,000 missions in his professional career, many of them life-saving.

"He works in every respect and in the very best way in his area of ​​responsibility and completes his tasks to our complete satisfaction," says an employer confirmation from the BRK district association Ebersberg, which is available to the Ebersberger Zeitung.

Otherwise, his boss, Elisabeth Seibl-Kinzlmaier, does not want to comment on the case.

Foerster failed part of the practical test because he allegedly endangered the patient by not using medication to break through a status epilepticus, i.e. an exceptionally long-lasting epileptic seizure.

You can find more current news from the district of Ebersberg at Merkur.de/Ebersberg.

Lawyers and doctors contradict examiners

His lawyer disagrees.

"However, the patient was not able to properly simulate a status epilepticus, so that it was not possible for our client to recognize it." And further: Foerster correctly considered the symptoms played by the patient to be one of the main symptoms of the intracerebral mass (e.g. in the sense of the cerebral hemorrhage) interpreted.

A Munich specialist in emergency medicine who looked at the case says: "From my point of view, no patient harm or endangerment can be derived from the examination performance." He knows Foerster as a reliable and competent paramedic.

Paramedic complains about powerlessness – and has to bear expensive legal fees

The Grafinger has now come to terms with his situation, he does not want to take any further steps against the examination notice for cost reasons alone.

He already had to cope with around 3000 euros in legal fees.

What bothers him is the powerlessness to take action against the examination board.

"It's held together tightly.

Nobody cares what kind of person you are, ”said Foerster, who worked a night shift at the Ebersberg Red Cross last week.

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