The family of David Rosenbaum announced Thursday it will withdraw its $20 million lawsuit against the District, citing the city’s progress in improving its emergency medical services.
“Today we want to announce that we believe the city has thus far lived up to its side of the bargain, and we will live up to ours: We are dropping the lawsuit,” Mark Rosenbaum said during a news conference at Reno Road and Harrison Street Northwest, three blocks from where his brother was brutally beaten 25 months ago.
New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum was assaulted and robbed on Jan. 6, 2006, while walking near his home. The EMS response was a complete failure, as first responders assessed him as a drunk, and the ambulance driver transferred him to a distant hospital so she could run errands. He died two days later.
The family filed a lawsuit last spring, but announced at the time that it would drop the case on the condition that the District establish a task force to improve its EMS program, and then make progress toward meeting those
goals.
Among the recommendations: establishing pay parity for firefighters and EMS responders, and integrating fire and EMS responders.
“This is a work in progress, and many past efforts at EMS reform stalled at precisely this point,” Mark Rosenbaum said. “The steps that remain to be taken are not simple ones.”
Mayor Adrian Fenty acknowledged yet again that D.C. utterly failed David Rosenbaum.
“That’s not news,” he said, “but it deserves to be repeated.”
