A paramedic who was fired after refusing to respond to an urgent call about a senior who had trouble breathing has received further punishment from the provincial regulator.

Matthew Chorney, who was 38 in December, was found guilty of five charges including professional misconduct and demonstrating a lack of professional judgment by a College of Paramedics of Manitoba disciplinary panel, a Dec. 12 written decision that was recently published online says.

The panel suspended Chorney’s registration for three months, ordered he be reprimanded, and demanded he pay $25,000 in costs for the college’s investigation.

Chorney was working at his unit in West St. Paul when he was notified of a 911 call about an 85-year-old woman suffering a partial airway obstruction and decreased consciousness on March 23, 2023, according to an agreed statement of facts.

Chorney decided, without consulting his co-worker that night, that he wouldn’t respond to the call because he was less than 10 minutes from the end of his shift, the panel wrote.

“He did not want to go on the call and so he did not go,” the panel said.

While it would have taken about three minutes for Chorney’s unit to get there, it took a Selkirk unit about 19 minutes to arrive after he declined the call, the panel said.

The 85-year-old woman was found suffering respiratory distress and appeared to have inhaled her own saliva or vomit, with an initial blood oxygen level of 79 per cent, the panel said. Her condition improved once she received treatment and was taken to hospital.

Chorney was fired by Shared Health in May 2023 after an internal investigation by the provincial health authority, the panel said.

Chorney spent 16 years as a paramedic and was an experienced paramedicine educator, so his misconduct shows “a serious lack of judgment,” the panel said.

The panel said Chorney was not credible when testifying about following protocol, and was “evasive and defensive” in his testimony.

The panel sees Chorney’s misconduct as “a pattern of behaviour” in which he “wanted to characterize facts and events the way he wanted them to be and was uncaring about fulfilling his professional obligations,” the decision says.

“Accountability does not appear to be something Chorney is prepared to embrace” even in light of the panel’s findings into his misconduct, and he expressed no remorse or apology during the hearing last year, the panel’s decision said.

“Because he wanted to retire, he did not want to participate in the investigation, so he refused to co-operate with the college.”

‘Unacceptable’

Lawyer Mark Wasyliw, also the Independent MLA for Fort Garry, represented Chorney during the hearing and said the paramedic was going through a divorce and custody dispute, and suffering severe insomnia, sleep deprivation, as well as anxiety and stress at the time of the call.

Chorney did not “handle his condition properly” and “thought he could not attend the call,” Wasyliw argued.

Wasyliw said Chorney is supporting four dependents but has no assets or income, is not currently working, and is insolvent, according to the panel. Wasyliw asked the panel to order Chorney to pay $2,500 in costs within two years and issue a suspension of 30 days or less.

The panel acknowledged Chorney’s financial constraints, but said it would be unfair for the profession as a whole to have to bear the costs of the college’s investigation alone.

“Although the behaviour fell short of meeting the threshold of ungovernability, it clearly qualified as behaviour that is unacceptable for a paramedic and a regulated professional.”

If he wants his licence reinstated, Chorney must also take an ethics and boundaries course, undergo an occupational assessment program and satisfy the college that he can return to the profession competently and “with decency, integrity and honesty,” the panel wrote.