Excerpts from Fox32Chicago.com:
According to the city’s inspector general, at least 20 out of the 111 African-American firefighters hired by the Chicago Fire Department following a long-standing discrimination lawsuit had not received medical clearance from a department physician before starting their duties. Two of these individuals suffered severe medical issues and died while off-duty, raising serious concerns about the process.
This hiring was part of a resolution to a legal battle that Mayor Rahm Emanuel inherited from his predecessor, Richard M. Daley. The conflict stemmed from the 1995 firefighter entrance exam, which was found to be discriminatory. As part of the settlement, the city agreed to hire 111 African-American candidates who had been bypassed and paid $78.4 million to compensate nearly 6,000 others who were affected by the biased process.
Last month, Emanuel highlighted this resolution as a success, saying, “We settled that. Paid out somewhere around $60 million to $75 million to the individuals. Then, produced the class for [111] individuals to fulfill their dreams of becoming Chicago firefighters.â€
However, the inspector general's latest report brought new revelations. In a quarterly update, Joe Ferguson revealed that 20 members of the so-called Lewis class had not been medically cleared by CFD doctors before starting work, violating both national standards and internal policies.
“Two of the 20 improperly-cleared members suffered serious medical events while off-duty and died shortly after beginning their duties,†the report stated. “This highlights the critical importance of having a CFD physician provide medical clearance for all new firefighters.â€
Ferguson urged the fire department to take immediate action to ensure the remaining 18 firefighters were fit for duty and to implement a formal medical clearance policy aligned with national standards.
The Chicago Fire Department responded by stating that all 111 firefighters had been evaluated by an external vendor, including physical exams and blood tests. Their own doctors then reviewed the files and either approved or requested additional steps, such as follow-up exams or retesting.
However, the department admitted that its physicians fell behind in reviewing the files, leading to delays. To meet a court-mandated deadline, administrative staff conducted a limited review of 53 candidates. They cleared 19 and rejected 34 due to incomplete documentation. A 20th candidate may have also been administratively cleared.
A current and former medical director told investigators that administrative staff lacked the medical expertise to properly assess whether the candidates met the physical requirements for firefighting. National guidelines require that any outside medical evaluation be reviewed and approved by the fire department’s own physicians.
After the first death, the CFD hired an outside doctor to review the medical files of the 19 administratively cleared candidates. Soon after, a second firefighter died. Both had been flagged by the outside doctor as needing further evaluation, which the CFD acknowledged.
Three of the four surviving candidates who were recommended for additional screening later experienced other health issues. The department cleared them after wellness exams that did not include full diagnostic testing. One firefighter was never evaluated by department physicians.
The CFD claimed it had discussed conducting medical exams for all administratively cleared firefighters but was advised by outside counsel that doing so could violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Going forward, the department has implemented new procedures based on National Fire Protection Association standards, ensuring that a CFD physician must make the final medical clearance decision for all applicants.
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