DC911 boss again defends botched cardiac arrest response

STATter911 initial coverage of this story

For four full minutes, her dispatchers didn’t answer the radio as firefighters and medics stood outside a cardiac arrest victim’s door trying to verify they had the correct apartment (radio traffic, above). The same dispatchers also failed to promptly tell the firefighters and medics that the person on the other side of the door had suddenly stopped talking with a 911 call-taker. Those dispatchers didn’t relay that crucial bit of information until 19 minutes into the emergency call! Yet, DC Office of Unified Communications Director Heather McGaffin writes in a new official documen that, “appropriate action was taken by all involved OUC personnel.” (Read McGaffin’s complete April 14th response at the bottom of this post)

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that McGaffin’s latest response about a December 2, 2025, cardiac arrest call is astounding. McGaffin’s claims directly contradict very clear radio transmissions that STATter911 first posted within hours of this call occurring. From what she wrote, you are left asking this question: Did Heather McGaffin even bother to listen to the radio traffic?

Instead of taking responsibility for obvious errors, McGaffin puts the blame on DC Fire & EMS. Here’s her one explanation for why so many minutes were lost before firefighters and medics were finally told that the 911 caller, home alone, was unresponsive: “The call taker continued to update the incident dispatch notes, which were apparently not seen by FEMS.”

Why wasn’t this crucial message seen by firefighters and medics? Because they weren’t in their vehicles, looking at their mobile display terminals. They were doing their jobs, standing outside the apartment door, trying to verify they had the right information before busting in.

Do you know who should have been in front of a computer screen reading that priority message from the call-taker? The same dispatchers who McGaffin bizarrely claims took “appropriate action”.

Do you know who should have immediately relayed by radio that crucial information to the firefighters and medics standing outside the door? The same dispatchers. Again, the ones McGaffin wants us to believe took “appropriate action.”

There isn’t a damn thing appropriate about the actions taken on this call by the fire and EMS dispatch side of DC911. If Heather McGaffin really doesn’t know this, she shouldn’t be running a big city 911 center.

This is Director McGaffin’s third attempt at explaining how her staff handled this early morning call at 3537 11^th Street NW. Her response seems like gaslighting and misdirection. McGaffin never explains what her dispatchers were doing instead of answering the radio or responding to priority messages on their computer screens.

This awful shirking of responsibility gets worse. McGaffin writes, “FEMS asked OUC for authorization to breech [sic] the door, however since the Agency does not make such decisions, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was engaged.”

That’s just fantasy. It did not occur. There is no such policy or procedure where DC Fire & EMS asks OUC for authorization to force entry into a home or apartment. If McGaffin had done a proper investigation she would know that’s not the truth.

Here’s the truth. After many frustrating minutes, first trying to get DC911 to answer the radio and then more minutes of responses that didn’t address their questions, the officer of Engine 11 said, “We can force entry. I’m prepared to force entry. I’m ready to force entry. We just want to make sure we’re forcing entry to the correct department.” That occurred 19 minutes into the call.

It was only at that point that a dispatcher responded with a message they should have been sent much earlier: “The call taker is still landline with the resident, and the phone is off the hook, so we’re unable to confirm what’s going on inside the location.”

As soon as Engine 11 heard that transmission, the crew forced their way into the apartment. There, they found the person 911 had been talking to. That person had collapsed, with no pulse or respirations. Firefighters and medics began resuscitation efforts. We don’t have information on whether the person was revived.

It has been almost five months since this cardiac arrest. The leaders of the Office of Unified Communications keep showing us they don’t believe it’s their responsibility to provide effective, honest, and transparent oversight about the highest-priority medical call they handle.

McGaffin’s responses should be Exhibit A for council members voting on a crucial bill to improve and reform OUC’s responses to all EMS calls. That bill makes the DC Fire & EMS Department’s medical director ultimately responsible for all aspects of EMS at DC911.

This would mean the quality assurance for a call like this would finally be in the hands of a medical professional. It’s the same doctor who ultimately has authority for all emergency pre-hospital care in the nation’s capital. The same one who performs comprehensive reviews of all cardiac arrests that DC’s firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs handle. It’s also the same office that has a history of telling families when mistakes have been made instead of going to great lengths to hide crucial errors.

Keeping EMS oversight and authority in the hands of someone who is not a doctor would be malpractice by the DC government. It also conflicts with industry best practices at all of the 911 centers surrounding DC and scores of others around the country.

Council members should be outraged that the 911 director responded three different times to their requests about such a significant incident with both non-answers and blatantly misleading information. No further proof should be needed to understand that OUC’s leadership doesn’t have the knowledge, skills, or compassion to make the final decisions on medical protocols and EMS quality assurance.