seeking a court order<\/a> to lift the ban.<\/p>\nIn an interview Friday, Jana. 23, Schultz, 73, said his retirement had nothing to do with the fire chiefs\u2019 accusations or the backlash from Orange County Global. He said he wants to spend more time with his family and updating his college textbook on disaster medicine. Schultz said he is not bothered by the criticism marking his seven-year tenure at the $301,000-a-year post.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat goes with being a regulator,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cNo regulator is ever viewed positively by those who are regulated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Orange County Fire Chiefs Association, in an Aug. 20, 2025, letter to Schultz\u2019s boss at the Orange County Health Care Agency, called him \u201cabrasive,\u201d saying he had damaged the morale of paramedics as well as the county\u2019s reputation among EMS professionals throughout California.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor too long, Dr. Schultz\u2019s decisions and actions have insulted our first responders, alienated our statewide partners and impeded our ability to heal, serve and save the sick and injured of Orange County,\u201d said the letter, signed by then association president and Laguna Beach Fire Chief Niko King.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimply put, it is time for an immediate change, and nothing short of the removal of Dr. Schultz will resolve the issues at hand,\u201d King wrote.<\/p>\n
The four-page letter ticks through a number of complaints. For instance, Schultz has steadfastly fought against performing blood transfusions in the field, despite the federal government\u2019s offer of billions of dollars in grants to pay for them.<\/p>\n
During a regional question-and-answer session hosted by the Los Angeles County EMS Authority, Schultz insulted the panel and remarked: \u201cI don\u2019t have any idea if this stuff works,\u201d the letter said. This despite evidence that hundred of thousands of people have been saved by prehospital transfusions, King said. Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties already conduct such blood transfusions, according to the letter.<\/p>\n
Schultz responded he wanted more study on the effectiveness of the practice, rather than just plunge into it because others are doing so.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t refuse to do it, what I did do was ask for evidence,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cThey act as if it\u2019s been proven to be effective and it\u2019s just not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fire chiefs also complained that Schultz:<\/p>\n
Rejected the use of magnesium by paramedics for seizures in pregnant women, even though it is already in use nationally.
\nDeclined to apply for a state grant of up to $400,000 to test the use of the drug buprenorphine to combat opioid use disorder. \u00a0According to the letter, Schultz said the grant might cost more to administer than the funds received.
\nSlow-walked the trial use of the fast-acting anesthetic ketamine by paramedics, who were able to administer only four doses in six months under his stewardship. According to the letter, Schultz has said, \u201cIf we give ketamine to someone and they die, there is a possibility of litigation or even criminal investigation, whether or not ketamine was the culprit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The situation had gotten so bad, the letter said, that EMS agencies across the state strategize around anticipated opposition from Schultz and Orange County Emergency Medical Services.<\/p>\n
Schultz declined to respond to the litany of accusations, calling them exaggerations and mischaracterizations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy continuing to have to refute all the accusations, it gives life to them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a very good relationship and clearly they wanted to get me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Loeser, the new president of the chiefs association from the Fullerton Fire Department, did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n
In the case against Orange County Global, Schultz took away its ability to receive stroke patients via ambulance, following a complaint from a woman whose husband waited nearly eight hours for an emergency stroke surgery because Orange County Global allegedly didn\u2019t have the necessary equipment and a qualified neurosurgeon available to perform the operation.<\/p>\n
The Orange County Register also published details<\/a> of a February 2025 state investigation that found troubling practices at the hospital, which serves many poor and vulnerable patients. KPC Health blamed the problems on industrywide financial pressures affecting all medical centers that treat the poor and uninsured. The state has since stated that the medical center has corrected the deficiencies.<\/p>\nUnaffected by the revocation is Orange County Global\u2019s status as a \u201ccomprehensive stroke center\u201d from the nonprofit Accreditation Commission for Health Care, which ensures that medical facilities meet national standards. The hospital also remains as one of Orange County\u2019s three trauma centers that treat the region\u2019s critically injured.<\/p>\n
After learning of Schultz\u2019s departure, KPC Health Chairman Kali P. Chaudhuri, \u201cWe look forward to working with the County to bring Orange County Global Medical Center\u2019s award-winning stroke services back on line for 911 transports as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schultz said Orange County Global is free to reapply for designation as a stroke-receiving center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey sort of have to justify why they are now reliable as a provider of acute stroke care, but if you\u2019re really good at it, it shouldn\u2019t be a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Almaas Shaikh has been named as interim EMS medical director while a new director is recruited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Carl Schultz quietly retired this week as Orange County\u2019s controversial decision-maker for emergency medical services, four months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,179,1281,1071,100,1492,136],"class_list":["post-147285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-community","tag-hospitals","tag-local-government","tag-news","tag-public-safety","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}