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Good
Samaritan Statute
What
is a Good Samaritan Statute?
Good
Samaritan statutes are laws enacted by the various states that
protect healthcare providers and other rescuers from being sued
when
they are giving emergency help to a victim provided the person
uses
reasonable, prudent guidelines for care using the resources they
have
available at the time of the accident. Most states have enacted
some
form of Good Samaritan or Volunteer Protection law prohibiting a
victim
from suing a physician or other health care professional for
injuries from
a Good Samaritan act. To trigger the protection of such an act,
several conditions must be satisfied: it must be a volunteer
act, the person
receiving the help must not object to being helped, and the
actions of
the rescuer must be a good-faith effort to help.
People
are rarely sued for helping in an emergency, but the existence
of Good Samaritan Laws does not mean that some one cannot sue.
Good Samaritan Laws do not provide absolute protection from
malpractice
claims. Each state has guidelines for professionals. A
professional should
not leave a patient unless care is transferred to an equally
competent
professional. This might mean a trip to the ER in some cases.
Always
activate emergency medical services as soon as possible so that
you
can leave the person in hands of competent rescue personnel.
Negligence
and gross misconduct are not defensible!
Some
states have enacted laws that make it a punishable offense NOT
to render aid... There are many factors to be considered about
responding
as a Good Samaritan as a health care professional... can I be
sued? What happens when a Good Samaritan suffers injuries or
damage to his or her
property as a result of responding to a call for help? Do Good
Samaritan
Laws protect me if I respond to help in cases of terrorist
bombings or
similar large-scale disasters?
While
each
state's statutes differ, the basic principles are similar-
"Any person who, in good faith, renders emergency medical
care or
assistance to an injured person at the scene of an accident or
other
emergency without the expectation of receiving or intending to
receive
compensation from such injured person for such service, shall
not be
liable in civil damages for any act or omission, not
constituting gross
negligence, in the course of such care or assistance."
Remember
whenever discussing legal issues in nursing it is imperative to
review your state's Nurse
Practice Act.
Articles,
case studies, and resources for further study
The
Risk of Rescue - The Plight of the Good Samaritan-
The
biblical parable of the good Samaritan is used to teach the
virtue
of helping someone in need. Does this virtue carry over to
our legal
system? [Explores the interesting legal position Canada has
regarding
Good Samaritan Laws due to its two legal systems-SARBC.]
Emergency
Care: Responsibilities and Alternatives-Printable
information about the scope of duty for hospital-based
providers,
including emergency physicians (and nurses), to provide
emergency
care in a hospital setting; the common law standard for
"Good
Samaritan" status, and issues that address emergency
care outside
the emergency department. [American Medical Association]
Good
Samaritan Statutes and Case Law-A
comprehensive
discussion of the status of the Good Samaritan statutes and
interpretive case law currently existing in the States of
Maryland,
Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of
Columbia.
Hirpa
v. IHC Hospitals- 1997 Utah Supreme Court case that
examines whether physicians employed by a hospital and
voluntarily responding to in-hospital emergencies are
entitled to immunity under
Good Samaritan provisions.
Pemberton
v Dharmani-Summary of a 1994 malpractice case in
Michigan that examines the duty and liability, and whether
the Good
Samaritan Statute applies in the case of duty physicians who
renders
in-hospital emergency assistance. Just as applicable to
nurses.
Volunteer
Liability- Your local hospital has asked for nursing
volunteers to conduct a blood pressure screening at its
annual health
fair. What liability exposure might you incur if you
participate and do
any laws protect you? [Advance for Nurses Magazine].
Volunteer
Laws-
Discusses the risks of volunteerism vs the protection offered
by the various state's Volunteer Protection Laws, and helps
define liability and scope of protection.
When
Health Professionals Donate Their Services- A Career
Fitness
Q&A article addressing the liability of nurse volunteers
and the protection
extended under Good Samaritan statutes.
Example
of a case involving volunteer medical professionals:
Boccasile
v. Cajun Music Ltd., [694 A. 2d 686, 1997, Rhode Island]:
A man suffered an allergic reaction to food he consumed at a
music festival.
A medical crew in the first aid tent at the festival provided
assistance, but
the man died. His family sued the first aid crew. The court
found that under
the Good Samaritan Act, the family had the duty to come forward
with
standard of care evidence and affidavits establishing deviations
from normal
care, or some expert attribution of a connection between
negligence and
the man's death. No such evidence was submitted and so the
volunteer
medical crew could not be found liable.
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