When will Emergency Medical Technicians Start Wearing Body Cameras?

Law enforcement agencies all around the world have been benefiting from the use of body cameras for years. These devices help cities save thousands of dollars on litigations and settling cases out of court, yearly. Officers who wear body cameras face fewer investigations and complaints from the public. That facilitates their jobs, making it less stressful while possibly saving careers as they can now easily disprove false accusations. Devices such as these can be extremely useful for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) as they often face similar issues to those that law enforcement officers do when it comes to dealing with citizens.

Change Doesn’t Happen Overnight

Model: Vision police body camera
Vision is a small and light-weight body camera, perfect for EMT professionals

Although the vast majority of the police departments in the United States now use body cameras, that wasn’t something that happened overnight. It took years for the majority of police officers, legislators, and even citizens to accept this technology as something positive. And it’s probably going to go down the same path for the emergency responders’ industry.

Nowadays, very few EMTs are allowed to wear body cameras as they may violate patient privacy laws in some states, but this will shift as soon as professionals realize how much they can benefit from it and start pressuring legislators to take action. When a patient is acting aggressively or makes false claims and accusations, an EMT wearing a body camera can rely on footage that’s 100% accurate and show nothing but the truth. Our memories, on the other hand, are extremely inaccurate when we’re under stressful situations.

Many lawsuits against EMTs are still going to happen before legislators realize the importance of body cameras. The good news is that it doesn’t seem like it’s going to take much longer for that to happen. Meanwhile, professionals have to keep on doing their jobs hoping they won’t face any unexpected situations with aggressive patients that could cause them to lose their jobs and end their careers. 

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