The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Good Samaritin Law?
Ok i was in my FF1 class this past wensday and a question was asked by someone who was attending the class from a different company. Heres the question............
You are driving down the highway you say have your ff1 but no medical training you watch a wreck happen right in front of you, you stop and are trying to help there are 2 people in the car one is not hurt bad visibly the other is obviously in a critical state ..... you contact 911 and they tell you it will be a while before help can get to you because you are in a remote area...You start to relay to the dispatcher what condition the patient is in , She/He then tells you to (...........) some form of medical aid or help..........#1 Can you be held liable if anything you did to help was wrong? or does the laww cover you? .......#2 Can the dispatcher be held liable if something she told you was wrong? Or does the law cover her as well?..................... We were told in our class that the answer is no that the law would not cover either one because you were not acting on your own but following someone elses instructions? It was then explained that if say the dispatcher was there with you that it would cover you both because then the person who instructed you was there with you? I am sorley confused here. I dont understand how this is any different than say if you were on a structure fire and you were told by your command who is stationed at another area. what to do and you did that wrong? Can you still be held liable for that too because he is not there or would that fall on him for making the wrong decision? see im confusing my self if anyone can help please?
You are driving down the highway you say have your ff1 but no medical training you watch a wreck happen right in front of you, you stop and are trying to help there are 2 people in the car one is not hurt bad visibly the other is obviously in a critical state ..... you contact 911 and they tell you it will be a while before help can get to you because you are in a remote area...You start to relay to the dispatcher what condition the patient is in , She/He then tells you to (...........) some form of medical aid or help..........#1 Can you be held liable if anything you did to help was wrong? or does the laww cover you? .......#2 Can the dispatcher be held liable if something she told you was wrong? Or does the law cover her as well?..................... We were told in our class that the answer is no that the law would not cover either one because you were not acting on your own but following someone elses instructions? It was then explained that if say the dispatcher was there with you that it would cover you both because then the person who instructed you was there with you? I am sorley confused here. I dont understand how this is any different than say if you were on a structure fire and you were told by your command who is stationed at another area. what to do and you did that wrong? Can you still be held liable for that too because he is not there or would that fall on him for making the wrong decision? see im confusing my self if anyone can help please?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Tony P on
-
Do you actually have such a thing as a "Good Samaritan Law" where you live? Or is it an urban myth? The concept exists here, but isn't enshrined in Law - but there is massive protection for anyone who simply does their best trying to help. As long as they don't try to perform open heart surgery or something... What we do have here in our driving law is a rule that obliges you to stop and render aid. To fail to do so could land you in trouble! Does something like that exist in your State laws?
-
Permalink Reply by sweetfire203 on
-
we do have the good samaritin law as far as whether or not it is a practice in law i am not sure of . I do know that it is taught to us in both FF1 classes and in EMT training . As far as a driving law as far as i know whether or not you stop is considered to be under your own moral sense of right or wrong you dont have to stop legally there is no law about it but i think whether you are trained to help or not and you are in the situation you should do all you can, and if you are trained then even more so.
-
Permalink Reply by Trainer on
-
Illinois also has this law, theory being that any help is better than no help. Dispatch usually has a book of simple medical procedures to instruct callers on some things to do, does that make both of you liable? I can’t answer that. Now in today’s society, with a good lawyer, anybody can be sued, and they will usually go after the deep pockets. I think our dept has a blanket liability policy that covers this, but again in today’s society and insurance companies looking for any out to a claim, who knows. Now with all this in mind, do we stop, you betcha, it’s what we do. I will offer this; don’t try to do anything you are not trained for, don’t be a TV doctor, if all you can do is comfort them, then that’s all you do. Remember the “Good Samaritan” law came about for the general public, and mainly dealt with CPR, not trained personal at an incident.
-
Permalink Reply by Wes Anders on
-
We were told in my emt course you were covered by the good samertian law as long as you do all you can up to your level of care.
-
Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
-
OK from what I am reading I think there are some misconceptions here. The Good Samaritan law is meant to cover civilians acting in the best interest of person. Example, performing CPR and breaking ribs, they are not supposed to be able to be sued for the ribs. Unless, they did CPR with their foot on the chest. In the case you described, it makes no difference what fire training you have. This is an EMS question. The Good Samaritan Law is supposed to protect anyone that is acting in the best interest of the patient and not acting negligent. The dispatchers would be EMD trained and using flip cards to direct care. If you are working on a squad at the time of the call, you are not going to fall under this law. Also, I am fairly sure, if you stop to render aid and are trained, you will be held to a higher standard as well. I have never heard about any laws that say you have to stop. If they exist, prove I was there and did not stop anyhow. Just remember, no matter what you decide to do, do not exceed your scope of training and always act in the best interest of the patient. If you do something, you had better be able to back up your actions. This is no different than if you were working that same day.
-
Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
-
"as you do all you can up to your level of care."
This hits the nail on the head. The laws are there to protect those who offer aid NOT beyond their own capacity. Someone with a CPR/First aid card isn't going to be putting a chest tube in someone on the scene. Someone who is an EMT-B isn't going to be pushing Meds on a scene.
It is there to protect those who do their job coorrectly and have an injury occur to the patient. (broken ribs etc)
Want to ask a better question, ask your instructor about failure to rendure aid. If your driving down a road and pass a major accident without offering aid (no emergency service responders there) could you get whacked for failure to rendure aid?
-
Permalink Reply by united 289..{Dave} on
-
J brooks you nailed it on the head. I will get the O.R.C. on the Good samaritain law in ohio and post it later today.
-
-
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
