Without hijacking the subject / topic, this is one of my pet peeves... many EMTs and paramedics, even unionized, are absolutely responsible for lives, directly, as a job description. Yet you will find that the national average salary for an EMT is $19,000. That's $3,000 less than the person that makes your coffee at Starbucks...

Paramedics, who do even more, including being entrusted with cardiac drugs, narcotics, and skills up to and including cricothyrotomy, often fare barely better than said barista.