Oct. 25--Brian Lanese, the Bluffton resident severely beaten in his backyard a year ago whose case prompted questions about the quality of ambulance service in Beaufort County, has filed a lawsuit against Beaufort County EMS.

Attorneys for Lanese, 34, filed the suit on Oct. 2.

County attorney Ladson Howell said in an e-mail Friday that the county would Â"not comment on active litigation.Â"

As a result of county paramedics' actions, the suit says Lanese suffered Â"severe debilitating injuries which resulted in permanent decline, ... emotional distress, anxiety, physical injuries (and) medical bills.Â" Lanese and his wife, Tracy, are seeking triple the monetary loss they have incurred since the attack.

Among other things, the suit alleges that Beaufort County EMS failed to:

Â? Properly monitor Lanese's physical well-being during treatment. Â? Properly supervise or train the EMS personnel who treated Lanese. Â? Use equipment or medication or take other steps to minimize Lanese's injuries. Â? Have and enforce proper protocols for treating patients like Lanese. Â? Provide ambulance employees with regularly updated manuals on treating head injuries.

The suit also alleges that EMS's care of Lanese caused him further injuries, and that EMS has been negligent with other patients.

Lanese was attacked just after 9 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2008. He and a friend were grilling steaks when three masked suspects burst from the woods behind the house. One of the attackers hit Lanese in the head with the wooden stock of a pellet rifle.

When two Beaufort County paramedics arrived, Lanese was bleeding profusely from a four-inch gash across his right temple. He was speaking incoherently and behaving combatively Â-- often signs of severe head trauma, according to state EMS protocols.

The paramedics got out of their ambulance and moved with Â"no sense of urgency,Â" according to a witness. They brought no medical equipment inside with them Â-- no stretcher, backboard, cervical collar or oxygen. The county's Â"EMS Standing OrdersÂ" for trauma patients recommend taking equipment Â"on initial approachÂ" to the patient so time isn't wasted if its needed later.

A neighbor of the Laneses, an off-duty paramedic for the Town of Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue Division, had rushed over to help. He asked the two Beaufort County paramedics whether they would call LifeStar, a medical helicopter agency, to take Lanese to a trauma hospital in Savannah. They told him they would not.

The paramedics then accused Lanese of being on drugs and drinking alcohol, though his wife told them all he'd had to drink was iced tea.