good Samaritan or emergency care doctrine

[Kristi Lee]

A nurse comes upon a traffick accident where there are injured unconscious people lying on the highway. The nurse is aware that first aid interventions are sanctioned by:

a. Good Samaritan act

B. Emergency care doctrine.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[pinefarmgirl]

I remember something about handing off to a person with less cert. from my EMT days... If the EMS person is "lower ranking" than you, but is paid to be there, as in arriving with the ambulance, then the person paid to be there at the scene is IC, regardless of creds, because they are there officially. The scene becomes their responsibility on arrival. So even if an MD is there, he is to take orders from, or have his help accepted by, the EMT or paramedic in charge. An EMT in this situation can order an MD to stand down if they feel the doc is not doing the right thing.

Also, I will say that I feel I must stop in a case like this. If it was your child lying there, possibly dying, and you could not be there- and you knew that people just drove by who might have helped, because they did not want to get involved????????? I don't understand.....

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

Of course if you are driving by an accident and decide not to stop and help and someone recognizes you and says "oh that lady/man is a nurse and they didn't stop to help"...you can get sued for that also. So, I guess you just can't win.

Disagree with this. No legal requirement to stop and assist.

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

Also, the Good Samaritan Act does not mean that you can't be sued; anybody can sue for just about anything. What it does mean is that if you give care reasonable under the circumstances, ACCORDING TO ACCEPTED STANDARDS, then you'll be protected under state law...

This seems correct to me.

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

... "Good Samaritan"... In general, these laws say that any person who volunteers their help is immune from a claim that they negligently provided care...

Don't believe that is accurate.

There is an imposed requirement that the care provided be "reasonable," "prudent," or whatever standard is employed in the law.

[JMBM]

Don't believe that is accurate.

There is an imposed requirement that the care provided be "reasonable," "prudent," or whatever standard is employed in the law.

Actually, my statement is accurate - in this state at least. A claim of negligence is one that alleges the nurse acted unreasonably or not as a prudent nurse would act. I don't know all states, but most Good Samaritan statutes say that if you are a true volunteer, you cannot be sued under a claim of negligence.