Paramedic student forced to quit school after 'aggressive and unpredictable' behaviour

Edmonton — A judge has denied a former Northern Lakes College student’s effort to appeal his forced withdrawal from the school’s paramedic program.

The student was asked to leave after a June 20, 2018 confrontation with an Alberta Health Services property manager on his practicum.

His initial appeal to the school was denied and he took the college to court, representing himself and seeking to order NLC to hear a second appeal.

Court of Queen’s Bench Judge Kevin Feth denied that request in a Jan. 15 ruling, saying the school acted reasonably in ordering him to withdraw and rejecting a second appeal.

“The overall reasoning process was therefore still rationally coherent and tenable in light of the factual and legal constraints,” Feth wrote.

CTV News is declining to name the student after efforts to contact him were unsuccessful.

The school told CTV News it had reviewed the ruling but had nothing more to add.

“The decision speaks for itself, and the College has no further comment on the decision at this time,” a NLC spokesperson wrote in an email.

NLC is a community college with offices in Slave Lake and Grouard and campuses in 25 communities across northern Alberta. It’s not clear on which campus the incident occurred.

‘AGGRESSIVE AND UNPREDICTABLE’

The student began his practicum with the school’s primary care paramedic program in May of 2018.

On its website, the school describes how students complete 34 weeks of coursework followed by a hospital and ambulance practicum that are conducted in partnership with AHS.

A day before he was scheduled to complete his ambulance practicum, the student got in a dispute with a property manager during an inspection of an AHS staff residence.

The manager complained, saying the student had been “leaving his room in a disorderly and unsanitary state, directing profanity at the manager, and behaving in an aggressive and unpredictable manner.”

Later that day, the student was evicted from the residence and had his practicum terminated, with AHS citing “his blatant disregard for AHS Code of Conduct.”

“Thank you for your support and understanding in our decision to terminate his practicum, I am sorry that his practicum had to end in this fashion, but based on our history with this individual, I would say we (AHSEMS) won’t be looking to take him on as a student on any further practicum placements,” reads a letter from AHS to the school.

On July 4, NLC informed the student he was required to withdraw after failing his practicum. He was also subject to a one-year leave of absence before re-applying.

APPEAL DENIED

The student filed an appeal a week later which was denied by the school’s dean of health programs, noting the student had violated the Alberta College of Paramedics Code of Ethics.

“ A student can be “Required to Withdraw” when he/she has demonstrated inappropriate behaviour or has seriously disregarded the rights of others,” reads the NLC’s student conduct procedure.

The student attempted to launch a second appeal, seeking to have the school’s Student Appeals Committee hear his case.

The school denied that request, emphasizing AHS and not the school, had ended his practicum and prompted his forced withdrawal.

“We cannot overturn the third-party decision made by Alberta Health Services,” reads a NLC letter to the student.

The student’s attempt to overturn that ruling in court were unsuccessful, with the judge siding with the school’s deferral to AHS’s right to end a practicum

“[He] could not succeed at a Level Two appeal because NLC was bound by the AHS termination decision,” the judge wrote, citing the school’s decision.

“The vice-president’s exercise of discretion was reasonable.”