Betty Rotting

Betty Rotting, a great-grandmother of seven, was 73 in December 2006.  She was being transported by AMR Northwest, from Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center for heart surgery. EMT paramedic of 16 years, Lannie Haszard was in charge of her care and transport.

Vulnerable and alone with Haszard, Betty was unable to fight back when he lifted her gown and began groping her. Haszard then pretended as if one of the wires monitoring her had come loose, and began groping her further. Betty remembers trying to kick him away but was strapped onto a gurney.  Once at the hospital, Betty immediately told Al, her husband, and the nurse attending to her.  She was told there was no time to make an official report because she needed to be prepped for surgery.  Al, in great despair, felt helpless and took off running after the ambulance trying to catch Haszard himself.  They had to delay her surgery and sent her home.

After she was released, Betty told her son, a former paramedic and probation officer, about the incident. He was outraged and complained directly to AMR’s Operating Manager, who he knew personally.  The manager promised Betty’s son he’d check right into it and call him back.  But that call never came. A year passed and while watching the evening news, Betty saw a report about Haszard assaulting another victim, Royshekka Herring.  She felt victimized all over again.  She remembers screaming “Oh my god, that’s him! They never stopped him!”  It wasn’t until her lawyers pursued a case on behalf of Betty and five other victims, was it discovered that AMR never investigated Haszard, nor did they contact the police.  They simply brushed off the complaints.

In August 2008, Haszard plead guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison for sexually assaulting these female patients.  To this day, Betty still has nightmares that she’s “trying to get away from him.” She says it is still “imbedded in her brain” and that it still feels “ugly.”  Betty is very proud, however, that out of her horrific experience came some positive change.  Because of her case and those of the other victims, AMR changed the design of their ambulances, permanently removing the wall between the driver and the EMT/patient area in back so the driver can see all that is going on in the back of the ambulance.

In a separate case, an Oregon jury awarded 29 year old Royshekka Herring $3.25 million from AMR after a month-long trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The jury determined she was a vulnerable victim and found that AMR Northwest and its parent company were grossly negligent for failing to act to keep Haszard from escorting Herring to the hospital after receiving many complaints about Haszard sexually assaulting women patients.

A total of 35 women came forward saying Haszard had assaulted them while they were trapped in the back of an ambulance with him.