Good Samaritan Act?????

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Good Samaritan Act:

I am currently working in a huge call center. My department includes myself and 3 other RN's along with non-clinical personnel. Other than my department, there are no other nurses currently employed at this company. We are not working in the capacity of industrial nurses, our position is to provide telephonic support and education primarily to caregivers of those with Alzheimer's disease, and to collect Adverse Event information that we forward to our client.

When ever there is any type of health/physical crisis with one of the company's employees, management will come to us and expect us to make an assessment of the situation and then to provide guidance. We have had some difficult situations at the work place, which has posed for us a concern for our licenses.

For Example: One female employee alerts her manager that she is having some type of problem. That manager requested one of the nurses from our department to assess the situation. Nurse finds patient with accelerated HR, and no cardiac HX. Recommends 911. Patient refused 911. Company policy dictates that employee must go home. She did go home, and luckily all was OK, as far as we know.

Another Example: Female employee with known HX of seizure disorder begins having petit-mal seizures one after the other. I was called upon to assess. Employee confides that she had taken her AM meds late this morning and in addition she is presently experiencing severe stress related to her personal life. Due to the petit-mal seizures continuing to occur and seemingly longer each event, I recommended 911. Employee agreed to permit 911 to assess, but refused to go to ED. Employee was told she would have to go home. She had no one that could help her. I took her home in my car. Employers told me that it would be on my own time as they will not be responsible if anything happens to me or the employee I am giving a lift to. In the car, the employee shared with me that her B/P taken by 911 was 190/100+. Needless to say, I was concerned. I felt very uncomfortable leaving her at home alone with what was going on.

We nurses are all uncertain as to how to approach these type situations. Are we covered under the Good Sam Act? Are there any other nurses out there that are in a similar situation? Any Legal Nurse Consultants out there with any input, we would certainly appreciate it. Is there anything else we should be looking at in addition that we are missing that could be posing a threat to our licenses?

Thank you all,

Karen

Florida RN

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This is not covered under the Good Samaritan Act. Your services are attempting to be used by your employer as nurses.

Good Samaritan Act is in place when you stop at the scene of an accident oand offer your services.

What you are being asked to do is on company time.............this is something that needs to be discussed with management at your facility.

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you are not covered. The good samaritan act is primarily for lay people. So be careful on the advice you give........ITs no different than people asking on the board for medical advice........Like my head hurts what do i do? Your advice can be used against you.

Your company should have policies in place to cover you. IF an employee refuses to go the the ER, you should document that somewhere, and education as to why she should.....iF she refuses, she refuses.

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Even at the scene of an accident or in a volunteer situation, at least here in Maryland, licensed professionals are still held to their professional standards.

Find out your job description and stick to it.

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Even at the scene of an accident or in a volunteer situation, at least here in Maryland, licensed professionals are still held to their professional standards.

Find out your job description and stick to it.

ITs that way in most states.........The good sam law only covers lay people...

We tell nurses they have no training in prehospital care, and they could be more of a liability responing to MVA's.

Theres a big difference in PRe hospital and Inhospital care........

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

If you were to refuse to assess a co-worker, would you be fired? I would strongly recommend that, if this practice continues, you insist that it become a written part of your job description with policies and procedures to follow, and a means of documenting your actions in order to cover yourself legally. It would also be my "pat" response that the individual needs to be evaluated by 911 personnel, or call his/her personal physician immediately for advice.

In the case where the employer inisited that the employee go home, I would not have offered a ride. That definitely places you at legal risk. Let the employer find a way to get the employee home whithout your involvement.

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If you were to refuse to assess a co-worker, would you be fired? I would strongly recommend that, if this practice continues, you insist that it become a written part of your job description with policies and procedures to follow, and a means of documenting your actions in order to cover yourself legally. It would also be my "pat" response that the individual needs to be evaluated by 911 personnel, or call his/her personal physician immediately for advice.

In the case where the employer inisited that the employee go home, I would not have offered a ride. That definitely places you at legal risk. Let the employer find a way to get the employee home whithout your involvement.

Not an LNC, but have been through the law and ethics stuff a few times training for different hc positions. What you need to be concerned about is negligence.

Somewhere, there's something called the 4 "D"s of negligence:

1. duty to act

2. dereliction of duty

3. damages

4. direct cause of dereliction to damages.

You must have all 4 to be considered negligent.

Your problem is that your duty to act is unclear, and would be up for grabs for an attorney. While it might not be written in your P&P, the fact that you are, and have been, expected by management to assess might be considered a duty to act.

Good Sam laws DO affect medical professionals in many states--that is WHY they were put into place--so that medically trained people wouldn't drive by accidents because of fear of being sued. Yes, medical professionals are still held to their level of training--but out on a road, that usually consists of ability to assess, because most of your additional training requires additional equipment (xrays, labs, etc), and treatment consists of relatively low-level interventions (positioning? I mean, you don't even have oxygen, right?)

Don't know how big your company is, but you might consider encouraging your company to form an Emergency Response Team, to handle the kinds of situations you describe. Frequently, workers go get first responder or EMT training--but, it is volunteer. You might try and find out how members of an ERT are treated legally.

However, you should consult with legal counsel--I am not a lawyer, legal document assistant (aka paralegal) or an LNC. Take what I say with a grain of salt.

NurseFirst

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Thank you all for your responses. It is a huge help for us to see your support. I plan to meet with Head of HR to discuss our situation and it's potential legal ramifications to our license our livelihood.

We welcome any additional input.

Warm Regards,

Karen

Florida RN

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I am in a similar situation. I work for a vocational high school who eliminated their school nurse a few years ago. In lieu of replacing her, they think they can call the "health wing" whenever there's a medical emergency or they think someone may have psoriasis. We have an EMT-P and several RN's on staff that are asked to respond. The EMT-P thinks we can respond within the "realms" of our licenses. I tried to explain to him that I was pretty sure RN's need doctor orders to do some of the things we're asked to do. One of the RN's thinks that we are covered by the Good Samaritan Act. Some of the staff enjoy responding to these emergencies as we don't get to "practice" in industry as much as we used to. However, it's only a matter of time before someone oversteps their boundaries.

Where can I get the wonderful information that is posted below in a "formal" manner? I live in Michigan and they don't have a valid email address, and this may sound silly, I'd hate to call them and get people in trouble. I don't think that would happen, I am just not sure what to ask for specifically?

Can someone give me some more ideas?

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

From what I understand the Good Samaritan Act is for professionals that act within their scope of practice if they are present for an emergency. I would have assessed the patient and called 911. If they refuse to go to ED, then, I would document what their response was, but no way would I have taken the patient in my personal car. Leaves too much open in my opinion...

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Specializes in LPN, Peds, Public Health.

I have always been taught that as nurses we cannot make a diagnosis, that it for MD's... so how can you be expected to treat these coworkers and such without putting your license in jeopardy? I agree, with the poster that stated she would have assessed, called 911 and documented that the person refused to go to the ER. I would never take a patient in my own personal vehicle.

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