Effingham County, IL. (ECWd) –

Today, an Effingham County Circuit Judge denied the county’s efforts to restrain a private ambulance company from operating or advertising in the county.

The county filed for a temporary restraining order to prevent Lakeside EMS, a private ambulance company, from transporting non-emergency patients within or thru the county pursuant to the county’s alleged ambulance ordinance and contract with Abbott Ambulance for emergency transport.

Defedant argued state law does not permit a county to give an exclusive contract to all ambulance services within their county, however, it does grant the power for exclusive “emergency” ambulance service as that term is described in the Emergency Telephone System Act. The actions sought to be restrained cannot be regulated by a county, and Lakeside EMS has the right to operate in Effingham County.

Defendant also argued granting the county’s TRO would be “Life-Threatening” due to the contracted emergency ambulance service’s lack of capacity to fill all requested patient transfers within a reasonable amount of time.

The county argued its Ambulance Ordinance applied to emergency and non-emergency ambulance services.

The Court denied the Motion for TRO.

An in-depth article explaining the issue will be published shortly.

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