Fire Chief, 5 Others On Leave Following Nursing Home Death

MAPLEWOOD (AP) - The fire chief and five members of his department in the Twin Cities suburb of Maplewood have been placed on administrative leave, apparently over the death of a woman at a nursing home.

Police Chief Paul Schnell says firefighters and paramedics were called to the Good Samaritan Society nursing home Aug. 7 where a 71-year-old woman with Parkinson's disease had stopped breathing and was unconscious.

Resuscitation attempts were made and firefighters were in the process of taking her to the hospital when the woman's husband arrived and asked them to stop.

The woman was taken back to the nursing home where she died a short time later. Schnell says police investigated because there was no "do not resuscitate" directive in place. Police determined there was no criminal wrongdoing, but the six were placed on leave.