Harvey Peeler

State Senate panel takes a big step toward making EMS records open to public.

Records of how emergency medical services respond to calls should be part of the public record. Thanks to a vote Thursday by the state Senate Medical Affairs Committee, South Carolina is one step closer to making those records accessible to the public.

The South Carolina Press Association had lobbied to make records of emergency calls — including response times and the names of emergency medical workers — open to the public. Those records now are kept private because of an obscure provision in a state law passed several years ago at the request of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

State Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, sponsored a bill to lift the privacy protection. Proponents argued that EMS services are little different from police or firefighters, all of which are publicly funded. Why would the law make privacy provisions for EMS operations alone?

Peeler’s proposal, however, was amended to protect the identity of emergency medical technicians. Sponsors of the amendment argued that EMTs, unlike police or firefighters, act at the direction of doctors and nurses, whose identities are protected. So, according to the amendment, keeping the names of EMTs off the public record is justified.

The amended bill passed, 8-3, and the bill now will go to the full Senate.

Despite the amendment, the bill is a step forward for public accountability. Records of events and response times will be available to the public, and victims and family members would be assured access to the names of EMTs.

We are grateful to Peeler and to Sen. Wes Hayes, R-Rock Hill, who worked hard to move this bill forward. We hope the full Senate will approve it.

Herald Online