‘It was the right decision’: Manitoba paramedic fined $25K says he was extremely fatigued when he refused call

Ambulance (CTV News)

A Manitoba paramedic who was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine by the College of Paramedics of Manitoba for refusing to take a call near the end of his shift said he was extremely fatigued at the time.

The college recently found Matthew Chorney guilty on two of the five charges connected to the incident, including professional misconduct and demonstrating a lack of professional judgment. The decision was made in October 2025 but was recently published online. Chorney said he was facing four charges, not five.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the incident took place on March 23, 2023. At the time, Chorney, a 16-year veteran, was working as a paramedic at the EMS station in West St. Paul.

The report said the station received a call at 7:51 p.m. for a report of an 85-year-old woman who was believed to have been suffering from a partial airway obstruction and a “decreased level of consciousness.” The patient was located directly across the highway from the station at a personal care home, and it would have taken approximately two or three minutes for Chorney’s ambulance to arrive.

The agreed statement of facts said Chorney acknowledged the details of the call and said he would not take the call, which came in at the end of his shift, and didn’t consult his partner.

“It’s not fair that I was named and shamed because I went home. I was fatigued,” Chorney told CTV News Winnipeg. “I stand by the decision that I made. It was the right decision.”

According to the college, a unit from Selkirk was sent and took roughly 19 minutes to arrive at the house. The patient was found to be in respiratory distress from aspiration from either vomit or saliva and had an initial blood oxygen level of 79 per cent. She was treated on scene and taken to hospital for further treatment.

Chorney was placed on paid leave as Shared Health investigated the refusal of the call. During the interview, Chorney said he called the on-call supervisor to institute the provincial fatigue policy as to why he wouldn’t take the call near the end of his shift. Shared Health investigated and found he made no call to the supervisor. Chorney was fired by Shared Health on May 25.

“Mr. Chorney’s decision demonstrated a serious lack of professional judgment and constituted professional misconduct as well as a breach of the Code and the Standards,” the decision reads.

Chorney had no previous disciplinary history, according to the report.

As a result of the hearing, the college reprimanded Chorney, fined him $25,000 and suspended his certificate of registration for three months. If he wished to get it reinstated, Chorney would need to complete courses on ethics, boundaries and an occupational assessment to determine if a return to practice is recommended.

Chorney said he has spent more than $15,000 in tribunal legal fees and plans to appeal the decision, feeling that he “has no choice”.

He said had he taken the call at that time, there may have been more dire consequences.

“If I had gotten behind the wheel, I might have hurt someone,” he said. “My medical record says I had severe fatigue.”