The New Taipei City government on Tuesday rejected a symbolic claim of NT$1 (US$0.033) in state compensation from a father who alleged that the slow response of emergency services led to his toddler’s death from severe COVID-19 symptoms in April.
The decision was announced in a statement by New Taipei’s Legal Affairs Department following a meeting on Monday by the city’s state compensation task force to review the case.
It follows the rejections of similar NT$1 compensation claims filed by the child’s father, surnamed Lin (?), with the New Taipei City Fire Department and Department of Health.
In the case in question, a 2-year-old boy nicknamed En En (??) developed severe COVID-19 symptoms and fell into a coma at home in New Taipei on April 14, just as COVID-19 cases in the country were beginning to surge.
He was only admitted to hospital after his family waited 81 minutes for an ambulance, and died on April 19.
After the child’s death, Lin repeatedly appealed to the city government for phone records from agencies that handled the ambulance request, but his requests were denied.
The records were later leaked to and released by local media.
In August, Lin filed NT$1 claims for compensation against the city government, health and fire departments, in a bid to force them to explain why the ambulance took so long — a delay he believes was directly responsible for his son’s death — and to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.
In its statement on Tuesday, the New Taipei City government said its task force had concluded that the responding agencies made every effort to save En En in accordance with the epidemic control measures then in place, and had not been found to be negligent in their actions.
While the city government expressed its “deep sorrow” over En En’s death, it said it nevertheless was required to review compensation claims based on the “elements and facts” of the case.
The decision to deny compensation can be challenged by the claimant in court under Article 11 of the State Compensation Law, it added.
Lin, meanwhile, responded on Tuesday afternoon that he “absolutely cannot accept” the decision and plans to file a suit for compensation after consulting with his lawyers.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel