Justice for Ernie: Support His Family's Fight

On Monday November 4, 2024 Ernie Wombles experienced a heart attack and his husband called 911. It took 9 1/2 minutes for CFD Ambulance personnel to respond from 1 mile away. Without so much as taking his vitals first, they forced him to walk to the ambulance. Then they sat for another 13 minutes before leaving for the hospital. Ernie responded perfectly to the nitro, calling his husband from the ambulance and sounding relaxed and calm and strong, and it is even noted he told the paramedics he felt better. However, 12 minutes later, Ernie was in full cardiac arrest and the ambulance stopped at mile marker 194 northbound on I57 on 6 miles from Sarah Bush Hospital that they had passed. There they remained for 45 minutes. During his time with the paramedics after the phone call, Ernie was given fentanyl (which he was scared of and wouldn't have consented to) then given atropine which is contraindicated as it increases the toxicity effects of fentanyl, and then given amiodarone which opens up all the heart vessels and plummets blood pressure, creating a cascade event initiating cardiac arrest. The paramedic mistook the muscle rigidity and constricted pupils of fentanyl overdose as a grand mal seizure, and never administered narcan which would have reversed the respiratory and cardiac suppression of the fentanyl overdose. The paramedic, a licensed EMS provider for 19 years, did everything wrong he possibly could, including delaying care on the side of the interstate by not transporting Ernie immediately to the closest hospital, a level 2 trauma center with 2 cardiac cath labs. There is a point on his EKG that shows Ernie was shocked after ROSC which caused Ernie to flatline. By the time Ernie did arrive at the hospital, he had been transferred from the cot to a trauma backboard, had his jeans cut off to assess for additional injuries, was so bloody faced he dripped onto the ER floor, and his eyes were grotesquely blown out of his skull so far his eyelids were rolled outwards. Despite the ER doctor telling his husband and daughter Ernie was gone, he breathed on his own for 30 minutes after his pronounced time of death. His lower dentures were missing, his clothes and $400 cash never returned to the family. His husband Josh sold their belongings and their car for far less than value to acquire funds for Ernie's autopsy and cremation, and had to stand against the coroner to get the autopsy done. Finally, after 4 weeks in the morgue unembalmed, the private forensic pathologist revealed Ernie had sustained a fatal blunt force injury to his back immediately before death while in the paramedics care that lacerated the back of his liver and cause internal hemorrhage. This was never documented in the patient care report submitted by the paramedic. The paramedic lied about securing Ernie to a cot and transferring him to the ambulance, lied about arrival and treatment times, and submitted a grossly negligent 1 paragraph patient care report for the 90 minutes Ernie was in his care. The medic has not suspended, disciplined, or charged for his wanton and willful recklessness that resulted in Ernie's untimely death. Multiple state agencies, senators, news crews, the Coles County States Attorney, and more have chosen to ignore the family's cries for help and justice. Ernie was the only income with his SSDI, leaving his disabled husband Josh who is fighting for his own disability with no income because he is 46 not 50. Ernie's daughter Cherokee and her 2 month daughter also reside with them and are equally affected. Josh and Cherokee witnessed without warning or preparation of any sort the traumatic state Ernie was in upon getting to him at the ER, having first driven to Sarah Bush then to mm194 sitting behind them for some time before following them back to Sarah Bush. They haven't had the opportunity to grieve or get counseling given the struggle and fight they've had to endure this last month. A #JusticeForErnie page on FB has been started to call for accountability on the paramedic that falsified medical records and was an active agent by all legal and medical means in Ernies untimely death. He was a good man, incredibly loved, well liked by all who knew him. Kind, generous, loving, funny, deeply devoted and loyal. He was a beacon of light, and a shining example of what humanity should be striving to become. The world is darker without him, his family is lost and struggling without him, and none of them deserved what happened to end his life and destroys theirs in the hands of a paramedic who clearly didn't give a shit about the safety and welfare of his patient. This gofundme is to assist the family left behind get by, and keep seeking #JusticeForErnie. #JusticeForErnie = justice for everyone.