"Good Sam" Laws?

[Haunted]

I recently moved to Nashville TN and had to get my CPR card renewed. During the class the instructor stated that all professional health care providers are obligated by law to stop and render medical aid and if they don't, they can be sued and lose their license. I have printed out the Tennessee Nurse Practice Act and can't find anything that even suggests that as an RN I am obligated to respond and help. I know in California IF I stop and help out I can't be sued for the outcome, hence the "Good Samaritan" law.

This is yet another head scratching moment I have encountered since this move. There are no ratios in place and it seems that the larger hospitals use a lot of "LPN's" and they can hang IVPB's as well as IVP. On a happier note, we bought a lakehouse yesterday so I will be pretty busy cleaning it up and moving in, it's pretty nasty and has sat vacant for a while.

Anyone out there have any feedback on the national Good Samaritan laws, ever rendered assistance and been sued? Thanks.

[flashpoint]

The Good Samaritin Law does protect you to an extent, but it does not mean that you will always walk away without a scratch if you are sued. Even if the court system did determine that you did everything 100% right, simply the fact that someone filed a lawsuit against you can be quite damaging. If in the "heat of the moment" you were to overlook something in a patient you were treating, on ecould logically argue that as an RN (LPN, paramedic, or whatever), that you should have caught the problem and been able to correct it. I am pretty cautious about stopping for accidents, helping my neighbors, and giving advice to people in the grocery store. Sure the Good Samaritin Law will help if I mess up, but again, it will not allow me to just walk away if someone decides to sue.

If I am in my fire district, I will stop, call 911, and render aid. My rescue squad is going to be paged out anyway, so once I determine the scene is safe, I will do what I can within my scope of practice...the rest of my team usually arrives within 4-5 minutes. If I am out of my district, I stop and call 911, and if the scene is safe, I'll render LIFE saving treatment, but I don't start bandaging wounds or things like that. I'm a little more willing to practice if there are life threats than if there are not. I don't think that makes me a bad person or less compassionate that anyone else. I don't have anything on my vehicle that indicates I have any medical training at all.

Kukukajoo...your post seems a bit upity to me. NREMT-P / RN's post is not inaccurate. If someone ordered someone else to edit their post everything there was something they didn't like or something they felt was inaccurate, nothing would ever be discussed...we would all be too busy editing! :)

[PANurseRN1]

Since when did we start ordering people we disagee with to "edit" their posts? NREMT-P/RN's post was highly accurate, and he/she speaks from years of experience.

[RunningWithScissors]

NREMT's posts are right on the money.

Kukukajoo, I noticed you are an aspiring CRNA....anesthesiologists have some of the highest malpractice premiums for a reason.

Remember, just because you do everything right DOES NOT MEAN YOU WON'T GET SUED!!!!!!

[kukukajoo, LPN]

My response was to the ORIGINAL post, before it was immensely edited from it's original version. The post now makes sense and is fine- prior to editing it only said that there was no law to protect anyone that stopped and helped. I appreciate that you edited it to reflect that the Good Sam Laws do protect people to an extent. I had only asked for this because it was a little confusing and in larger, bolder type than the correct information.

CotJockey- I did not mean to sound uppidy, just as I said, I thought it was important to get correct information out there.

As far as information, I had to sit through a conference on this very subject and also took a course on law & ethics of the medical professional. We covered this in great detail. When I took my CPR certification, the instructor, a Captain of a city fire department also admonished us into the aspects- this is where we were warned of not taking payment in any way shape or form. If someone finds this sick, that is a testament to the sue- happy nature of people in America. Here in NH, we have some of the lowest cases of tort and also the lowest judgements against people and entities. We almost never have million dollar settlements on anything and we have laws limiting liability in so many things. Our insurance rates for about everything are amongst the lowest in the country as a result of this.

Remember, I don't make the laws, I just have to live by them. I posted the URL's for those looking for more information. The best place to get the exact wording of any law is from the state itself.

I don't understand what me wanting to become a CRNA has anything to do with this subject. Anesthesiologists are not CRNA's.

[Katnip, RN]

I attended a lecture by one of the well-known professional liability groups a few years ago.

They said that even wearing scrubs in public identifies you as a nurse, and implies a nurse/patient relationship if anything should occur in your presence, and you would be held to the standards of nursing practice. (like if you walk away, you could be charged with abandonment, even if you didn't walk up to the person and offer help).

quote]

Lots of people who aren't nurses wear scrubs. Secretaries, vets, vet techs, dental hygenists, housekeepers. Scrubs do not identify anyone as a nurse.

And if you walk away, how would they know your name?