By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Gov. Ben Cayetano, sitting behind a desk loaded
with work, talks to reporters yesterday about his ulcer.

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City releases
Vicky Cayetano’s
call to 911

A caller's written release is required
under a new policy on paramedic calls

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

City officials have released transcripts of the 911 emergency call that first lady Vicky Cayetano made when a bleeding ulcer caused Gov. Ben Cayetano to collapse last week.

But they did so only after the first lady gave written authorization yesterday, complying with a new policy that provides greater secrecy for emergency calls to paramedics than similar calls to police or firefighters.

The first lady said that while she appreciated the concern shown by Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, she wondered why it was necessary to provide a written release for her 911 call. She said she and her husband believe the public has a justifiable interest in the governor's health, so what she said should have been readily disclosed.

"I feel like there was a lot of resistance to letting it out," she said, noting that she and the governor didn't seek to have the tapes kept hush-hush.

The city's new policy, said First Deputy Corporation Counsel Chris Parsons, "is based on (Harris') sense of right and wrong and our interpretation of the law. We're balancing it in favor of privacy absent any overriding public issue like, was the emergency response appropriate."

Parsons and other city officials acknowledge that the issue came into focus only because the 911 call involved the first couple and that pushed the matter all the way up to Harris' desk.

The new policy pertaining to emergency calls involving paramedics wasn't shaped until Wednesday, the day after Vicky Cayetano sought emergency help for her husband, Parsons said.

The policy is this: Since emergency medical personnel offer advice from instructions developed by physicians, they enter into a confidential relationship with callers similar to the one between doctors and patients.

"We will not release ambulance tapes," said Harris, "unless either (1) the caller and victim consent to release, or (2) there is an overriding public interest in the release, such as when questions are raised about the city's emergency response.

"This is the city's policy unless and until a court tells me the law requires otherwise."

Parsons added if, for example, someone is reporting a medical emergency involving a judge, the confidentiality will allow the caller to report the complete nature of the situation and not fear the political ramifications of public disclosure.

Emergency calls involving police and fire departments are protected less stringently because those calls do not have a medical component, Parsons maintained.

But while some states do recognize "a paramedic's privilege," other states do not, Parsons conceded.

Harris spokeswoman Carol Costa said yesterday that when she sent out a news release last week saying it was "standard policy of the city to release audio copies of emergency calls upon media request," she meant only calls to police and firefighters -- not ambulance tapes.

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First lady to 911:
‘We need an ambulance’

Here is a transcript of the conversation between first lady Vicky Cayetano and an ambulance dispatcher:

Ambulance: "Ambulance."

Vicky Cayetano: "Yes, this is Mrs. Cayetano at Washington Place. We need an ambulance."

AMB: "OK. What happened there, Mrs. Cayetano?"

VC: "My husband!"

AMB: "OK ... OK, what's happening to him right now?"

VC: "I think he might have a stroke."

AMB: "OK, is he able ... is he moving at all, or breathing?"

VC: "Come in, come in." (To security guard.)

AMB: "Is he breathing?"

VC: "Yes."

AMB: "OK, is he on the floor right now?"

VC: "Yes."

AMB: "OK, is he lying flat on his back?"

VC: "Yes."

AMB: "OK, turn him on his side; on his left side."

VC: "He's on his side."

AMB: "On his side."

VC: (sigh) (Unintelligible voices in background)

AMB: "OK, where ... and (uh). We're coming through the front or from the back side, which way the Security goin' ... "

VC: "Back side."

AMB: "From the back, back side ... "

VC: "Yeah."

AMB: " ... down Punchbowl?"

VC: "Yeah."

AMB: "OK, the security going to meet us there?"

VC: "Yes."

AMB: "OK, and ... yeah ... keep him on his side and watch his breathing. Now if he does stop breathing, call us back, we're going to help you help your husband, OK?"

VC: "Thank you."