Question... are we supposed to help? Good Samaritan.

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Hi all. I have a question. As nurses or nursing students, if we see an accident say on the side of the road, are we supposed to help and render medical assistance?? How does this tie in with the "Good Samaritan" Act? We are supposed to discuss this in nursing class tomorrow. I found some info. on the net, but it mostly talked about physicians.

Thank you! E

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I recently redid my CPR and this very topic came up. It is my understanding that if you are cpr certified and saw an accident or such and kept going .. and someone found out then you could be held responsible for not giving aide .. but the Good Samaritan act" itself is a law that protects those who give life saving methods to those in need... it protects you from being held accountable... provided you did the responsible thing.. I guess thats how to say it... do u know what I mean? hope this helped..

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Specializes in LTC.

The Good Samaritan law will protect you only so far.. Remember your limitations.. Now a days everyone is sue happy, once someone finds out you have a degree/job in the medical field, and something goes wrong it's your fault.. I would stop in a second to help someone out, do CPR, call for help, apply pressure to a bleeding wound, try to prevent someone going into shock...Then pray the EMTs get there..

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Specializes in Geriatrics and emergency medicine.

I am an LPN, and also an EMT. I have stopped numerous times to render assistance to MVA's. You are covered under the good Samaatin act up to and including your scope of practice and training

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Specializes in ER/Geriatrics.

The Good samaritian act covers you if something goes wrong if you stop to help someone.....it does not in any way say you have to help....and always remember YOUR SAFETY FIRST.

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I will gladly step over your body as I am going on my way...I might be nice and call 911 for you but that is it.

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I recently redid my CPR and this very topic came up. It is my understanding that if you are cpr certified and saw an accident or such and kept going .. and someone found out then you could be held responsible for not giving aide

In most places, if you're not directly involved in an accident and you're not an on-duty emergency service worker, you don't have to stop. "Duty to act" is part of the equation for establishing this kind of liability. Simply taking a CPR course does not establish a duty to act for every emergency or potential emergency that you might encounter on the roadway.

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.
I will gladly step over your body as I am going on my way...I might be nice and call 911 for you but that is it.

Wow. Hope someone is a little more compassionate when it's someone you love lying on the ground being stepped over. Might be nice? Wow.

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Wow. Hope someone is a little more compassionate when it's someone you love lying on the ground being stepped over. Might be nice? Wow.

:yeahthat: :trout:Wow aren't they reassuring to be in the healthcare field....

I hope Kyrshmarks remembers that comment if he/she are ever in a life threatneing situation.......

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

As someone who does pre-hospital care, I don't want or need onlookers. That said, if EMS is on scene, don't stop. However, if you come across an accident, where no one is on-scene (police or EMS), then yes, I do sometimes stop. If it is a fender-bender, I go on. However, if its a roll-over out in my rural area, I do stop, call 911 first and then see if I can help.

I do add that as an EMS provider, I always have a CPR mask and gloves in my vehicle.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Medsurge.

Somedays I'll find myself at the park with my daughter and think to myself "holy bejeebers, if anything happens here--SBDY choke, MI, Stroke, Bloody trauma, etc etc ---I'm in charge, I'm it! And I agree, the Good Samaritan law holds us not responsible for anything that goes awry with our good intentions... This is a heavy burdin to bear, especially if it's your day off and you've worked five twelves straight>OH LOL LOL

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Specializes in ER.

Just a thought, so far nursing school has not provided me with any kind of pre-hospital training except for home care nursing. Responding to a MVC is very different from working a trauma in house with relatively controlled conditions. Glass, sharp metal, traffic, fluids (both from the vehicle and patient), ect... If a nurse sees a situation where they can help by all means do so. Just be carefull, sometimes your necessary PPE should to include a fire truck blocking traffic.

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