****** if you do and ****** if you don't

[oramar]

Here is hypothetical situation, you come upon a person who dies under unusual/suspicious circumstances in a clinical situation. You, an employee of the clinic are the first to find them and you are very sure they are dead but you move them in a position where you can make an attempt to do CPR anyway. The CPR fails. The police then are called and they charge you with disturbing a crime scene. The charges are eventually dropped but not without some hassels. What do you think, does that sound to crazy? I know someone who claims they went through this. I don't know if I believe them.

[rn/writer, RN]

Here is hypothetical situation, you come upon a person who dies under unusual/suspicious circumstances in a clinical situation. You, an employee of the clinic are the first to find them and you are very sure they are dead but you move them in a position where you can make an attempt to do CPR anyway. The CPR fails. The police then are called and they charge you with disturbing a crime scene. The charges are eventually dropped but not without some hassels. What do you think, does that sound to crazy? I know someone who claims they went through this. I don't know if I believe them.

This sounds truly bizarre.

Surely someone would call 911 and EMS would be dispatched. The EMS folks would do CPR and transport immediately if there were any chance of saving the person. They would not, however, be obligated to start (or take over) CPR on someone who is obviously dead. If there is any rigor or lividity, they would call for law enforcement and the ME who would then take the body to the morgue for an autopsy.

Any unexpected death is considered "suspicious" until proven otherwise. Law enforcement would do interviews, take pictures, and gather evidence that would otherwise be lost if they had to wait for autopsy results to begin their investigation.

Think about this, though. Even after a shooting or a stabbing or some other medical emergency with obvious criminal possibilities, no cop is going to put preserving the crime scene over attempts to resuscitate the victim. That's a good way to put your badge on the chopping block.

If a first responder ultimately did play a role in the victim's demise, just "disturbing the crime scene" by attempting to perform CPR (or even appearing to do so) would not be sufficient evidence of guilt because doing it for the right reasons or the wrong reasons would look exactly the same. Good ol' police investigation to discover means, motive and opportunity would rule the day.

Bottom line--I don't find that scenario at all likely.

[elkpark]

what about good samaritan law?

Good Samaritan laws are designed/intended to protect you from being sued by survivors/family for malpractice as long as you performed within the legal scope of your practice -- AFAIK, they don't protect you from any criminal charges.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I agree with Miranda's post - I don't find this to be a plausible scenario as it has been presented.

Just as an aside -- people with no clinical backgrounds move very dead family members all the time.

If this carpenter is being questioned by law enforcement, it is because they consider it a prudent part of their investigation -- not because he disturbed a crime scene.

[DirtyBlackSocks]

When speaking with foreigners about what they think about America the first thing I always hear out of the mouths (from those who live in developed countries similar to the economical stability of America) of everyone is that America has way too many laws to get their citizens in trouble.

If this particular situation is true - there is obviously way too much information missing to form a judgment on whether the detective was right in charging some one with tampering with a crime scene.

However, to be able to charge some one with tampering with a crime scene due to attempting live saving techniques - is a great example of how our system is flawed.

What have we come to when the general population is consistently in fear of the law? How many nurses do you know of that are hesitant about doing what they know is right for fear of repercussions?

It's all very silly, it's usually a waste of the tax payers dollars when it goes to court, and in most cases where people are acting on good intentions it's all thrown out of court in the end.

[diane227, LPN, RN]

You don't state what clinical situation you were in. What kind of unit? What was wrong with the patient?