Story Archive

In the Line of Duty

Officer Frank Barbagiovanni was dispatched to a house in New Britain, Conn., where a 10-year-old boy had stopped breathing. While performing CPR, the boy vomited on him, so the department required him to file a report indicating he could have been exposed to communicable diseases. Barbagiovanni was stunned when he received the reply from the city attorneys: the incident was not “causally related to a work-related condition,” they said, and they would contest worker’s compensation if he applied for it. “I thought the city would want me to try and save a life,” he wrote in response. “The city on one hand cannot demand and acknowledge we expose ourselves to threats of injury and then state that we do not have to.” After a month, he still had not received a reply. “I want to know why the city would train me in CPR if I’m not expected to use it? And what am I supposed to do the next time a woman hands me a child and is yelling ‘Help him!’” (MS/Hartford Courant) ...Apparently, have her fill out some paperwork first.