Responders put on leave after granting husband's wish for dying wife

Six Maplewood emergency responders granted a husband's wishes not to medically intervene when his dying wife stopped breathing but their actions are being investigated. City officials put the six firefighters, including the chief and paramedics, on administrative leave.

Linda Sandhei, 71, who had Parkinson's disease for decades, died earlier this month. A Maplewood Police report said she was a resident of Good Samaritan Society when she stopped breathing and medics were called.

Her husband, Thomas Sandhei, stood by as the Maplewood responders attempted to resuscitate her. They felt a pulse and moved her to a stretcher for transport to the hospital when Sandhei asked them to stop, according to the police report. Medics complied with his request and unplugged life-support equipment. Linda Sandhei was moved back to a private room where she died 20 minutes later.

Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell said the six were Fire Chief Steve Lukin, Assistant Fire Chief Clarence Gervais, firefighter/emergency medical technicians Reid Troxel and Joe Kerska, and firefighter/paramedics Richard Dawson and Mike Streff.

"This is not a set of circumstances that we deal with very often," Schnell said. "But when a question gets raised: is there an obligation to render aid in the absence of a do-not-resuscitate/do-not-provide-medical-intervention order? Does that rise to the level of a crime?"

Schnell said he consulted with the Ramsey County Attorney's Office and ultimately decided the case didn't require a broader criminal investigation.

"I believe that they were trying to do right by the family," he said. "But we still had to ask the question about the law."

Maplewood City Manager Melinda Coleman said the city is using an outside investigator to conduct interviews, but otherwise the investigation will be done by her office. Coleman did not release further details citing personnel privacy laws.

It's not clear who filed the complaint against the firefighters. Sandhei's son, Peder Sandhei, disagreed with the city's decision to suspend them.

Sandhei visited his mother the day she died. He sat next to her bed and held her hand shortly before she stopped breathing, the police report said.

"It was a very emotional day and it's continuing to be very emotional," he said later. Citing overwhelming attention from reporters, Sandhei declined to answer additional questions about his family's wishes.

"The suspension is ridiculous, they did what the family wished and that's enough," he said. "We don't need to be reliving my mother's passing over and over again."

The incident highlights questions about advanced care planning, how it's discussed, filed and handled, especially in non-hospital settings, said Dr. John Song, professor at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota's Department of Medicine.

Had this happened in a hospital with a physician who knows the patient, her family members and the person who has power of attorney, there would've been a clearer understanding of the patient's wishes, Song explained.

But some situations outside the hospital force paramedics to weigh competing moral obligations.

"They had a strong obligation to stop because they had the husband there who represents this woman's voice," Song said. "But they also had strong moral obligations to follow their codes of conduct to continue CPR until there is a clear determination made by a physician."

Fire Chief Lukin and Assistant Fire Chief Gervais could not be reached Wednesday.

Several months ago, the FBI launched an investigation of Maplewood's city government over an undisclosed separate matter. That investigation is ongoing and details are not yet available.