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Background Checks

New Mexico May Start to Run Background Checks on Emergency Service Workers

There has been enough mayhem going on in the healthcare and caregiver sectors to cause enough worry for the oversight agencies.  There have been various reports and news articles, the most notable a joint study been Pro Publica and the Los Angeles Times, detailing how healthcare can find work, despite criminal histories and disciplinary actions taken against them.  I have written about this subject a number of times.  One such article is entitled, Suspect Caregivers Missed on Healthcare Sanctions Background Checks.

As if often the case, once the proverbial bad apple turns up, the governing bodies of various healthcare groups decide it is time to move forward with background checks and other forms of greater scrutiny.   One such bad apple had been convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.   When it was time to apply for his EMS license, or Emergency Medical Services,  he answered on the form that, no, he had never been convicted a felony or misdemeanor.  In short, he lied.  Not the first one to do so.

As the Emergency Service Licensing Board does not mandate background checks on EMS workers, the candidate’s previous criminal records were not discovered.  It took an anonymous letter to raise eyebrows and to look further.   The man was then denied his license renewal.

With the New Mexico regulations now in effect, State regulations allow the Emergency Medical Services Licensing Commission to deny, suspend or revoke the license of anyone found having sex with a patient, or who has a conviction for a felony or misdemeanor, or a conviction of a misdemeanor involving abuse, neglect, exploitation or moral turpitude based on a court record of conviction.  But there is no mandate for background checks.   So how do you find out about an EMT’s  criminal history, whether he is a sex offender, or has been disciplined by related bodies?  You don’t.   The EMS Bureau has relied on self-reporting.    Up until now.

According to Fire Engineering, more than 20 states now deny licenses to people convicted of certain felony crimes, and the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians denies certification to anyone convicted of felonies involving sexual misconduct; physical or sexual abuse of children, the elderly or the infirm; and any crime involving patients.

The discredited EMT  worker may be the Albuquerque’s “Arroyo Molester.”   The suspect awaits trial  in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center on 25 felony charges, including criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13, kidnapping with intent of great bodily harm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sexual exploitation of a child.

I think it is fair to say that at times we are not at all proactive about background checks.  In fact, it often takes the worst examples in society, before we can move forward with background checks and other monitoring instruments that help protect the workplace and society in general.   This could be one of those examples.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.