Ellen Mix, the widow of Tim Mix, of Northwood, has filed a lawsuit in the Wood County Court of Common Pleas.
 
Mix, 67, waited 28 minutes for EMS personnel to arrive on the morning of March 3.
 
Ellen had called 9-1-1 to report that her husband was having breathing problems. She would call three times that morning, the last call relaying that her husband had stopped breathing.
 
By the time help arrived from Medic 804, an ambulance from Northwood Fire Station No. 1, manned by an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), and Medic 50, an Advanced Life Support (ALS) rescue squad from Lake Township, Mix had stopped breathing.

Mix was revived and transported to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, where he was removed from life support two days later after suffering brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.
 
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, September 15, is seeking damages “in an amount exceeding $25,000.”
 
Named in the suit are Mayor Mark Stoner; City Administrator Dennis Recker; former Fire Chief Tim Romstadt, currently a part-time fire chief in the city; as well as dispatchers and supervisory personnel, administrative employees, elected officials, and/or consulting contractors of the City of Northwood with the responsibility of ensuring an appropriate emergency medical response capability.”
 
The suit alleges the defendants “knew or should have known that the City’s emergency response capability failed to meet the standard of care, was grossly deficient, and created a grave risk of serious harm or death to citizens who relied on its response capability for emergency medical assistance.”
 
It further states that senior officials in the city, including Romstadt, had been warned on repeated occasions that its emergency medical response capability was deficient.
 
“Its deficiencies placed citizens at great risk of death or other serious harm,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants’ knowing disregard for this risk was wanton and reckless.”
 
The suit alleges that the defendants “failed to establish, enforce or adhere to policies, procedures, and practices in order to ensure a timely response to requests for emergency medical assistance.”
 
Mix’s death, it states, was “a direct and proximate result of the defendants’ knowing, reckless and wanton acts and omissions.”
 
Mix’s lawyer, Paul Belazis, of Malone, Ault and Farrell, of Toledo, would not comment on the lawsuit.
 
Stoner could not be reached for comment.
 
Recker was unaware of the lawsuit and did not want to comment.
 
“I have not seen the documents,” Recker said. “This is the first I have heard about it.”

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