We’ve got to link to John Pekkanen’s disturbing investigative piece in this month’s Washingtonian magazine revealing utter dysfunction inside the District’s emergency medical services agency. It’s a very long story, but worth reading all the way through as it really rams home the point that fatal breakdowns within the fire department-led FEMS have resulted in undertrained and demoralized EMTs. The circumstances that led to the death of David Rosenbaum, it seems, were hardly aberrations….

Last night WJLA went with a story about how 28 percent of the District’s firefighters failed to pass the national registry exam for EMTs. The city’s emergency responders are now required to pass the national test under an agreement reached between the District and the family of late New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum, who died due to EMT negligence. I realize that in post-Sept. 11 America, all firefighters are heroes and you’re not supposed…