Submitted 1 day ago by Patnou@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Depends probably on your location. In a lot of countries (for example Germany) you are obligated to give first aid (independent of yourknowledge) . You can even be sued for not helping in an emergency.
In of most countries there are „Good Samaritan Laws“ that protect the people giving first aid!
And btw how often do they come by accidents? Here in Germany haven’t seen one in years
I’m assuming the US, because
steinberginjurylawyers.com/…/what-you-should-know…
heitingandirwin.com/suing-the-good-samaritan-when…
abcnews.com/TheLaw/story?id=6498405&page=1
nevinlawgroup.com/how-many-successful-good-samari…
4.7% of lawsuits ending with a judgement against the good samaritan is not much, but more than 0
I can’t find their source for the “2019” review with the 4.7 %, but the main thing to know is that the good Samaritan laws protect you when you are acting in good faith and following your training.
So for example it would protect you while giving cpr like you’ve been trained to do, or while following directions from 911, but won’t protect you if you stick a pen in someone’s neck because you thought they needed a DIY trachyometry like you saw in a movie once.
I mean, it ended Seinfeld.
Depends probably on your location. In a lot of countries (for example Germany) you are obligated to give first aid (independent of yourknowledge) . You can even be sued for not helping in an emergency.
This is the case for licensed medical practitioners as well, including doctors and nurses. If a Flock camera catches the sister leaving the scene of an accident, and the sister is an RN, the sister can be civilly liable and possibly even criminally culpable for refusing to render aid within her professional scope.
I’ve been to Frankfurt area this summer and passed by accidents on the highway every couple days or so. They just usually clean them up very quickly.
Depends on the country. Eastern countries like China,Russia, and South East Asia, hell ya. They fake like you hit them, they’ll run into you parked and fall over, they’ll fall on corners and you help them up they’ll sue you for hurting them. There’s tons of videos on YouTube, and I lived in China for about 10 years. At first I was like WTF why won’t anyone help that old lady? My friend is like “bro, no” and explained it. Over 10 years I saw it like weekly.
West not as much. It does happen though. There are laws to protect the person helping as well. If it ever went to a trial it’s pretty obvious you pulled up to help and didn’t do anything crazy besides maybe a tourniquet, CPR, and or called 911.
both.
your mom has a skillset that allows her to help.
your teacher is useless and can’t help.
make sure you tell her that too.
Anyone can sue anyone else for anything. That doesn’t mean anything will come of it or even reach a courtroom.
There are laws that protect you when you offer help in most if not all states. Get familiar with yours.
You can always stop and call for help.
Don’t do anything you aren’t trained to do, and always ask “can I help?” / get verbal consent if they are conscious.
The danger is just if you have bad judgement. Say you saw a tourniquet on a TV show so you think you know when it’s appropriate to use a tourniquet - or if someone is injured and you decide to move them which makes them MORE injured. (Note: you CAN move them away from a fire or something that would otherwise kill them. “More injuries” is better than dead.)
But you can ALWAYS stop and be kind and call for help and wait with them!
If you act in good faith and aren’t trying to “play doctor” when you aren’t one - no jury is going to punish you for that. If there aren’t good Samaritan laws in your state (there are in most) they might be able to take you to court but they won’t win.
Wtf. In germany you can geht in trouble if you dont help but could.
You are talking about a legal issue which means it’s very specific to local laws. Some countries actually have laws that protect those who try to help. Some countries actually have laws that enforce medical professionals to help at the site of an accident. And some countries don’t have that and you can be liable for stuff like that. So it really depends.
I always stop if no one is around or if everyone is just standing around looking uncertain. I couldn’t stop myself if I wanted to, I feel compelled to go help. Lawsuits be damned, just stick to within your scope of practice and you’re fine. Or if you’re really that nervous, stabilize them and call EMS, and then leave… don’t just do nothing.
Broken ribs with CPR? That’s in your scope of practice. They were a DNR and you didn’t know? Doesn’t matter, EMS is gonna do the same, it’s not worth risking a life because you’re not sure. They have DNR tattooed on their forehead? Still doesn’t matter, it doesn’t count (though I may personally make a judgment call on that one)
The fear of lawsuits is just a little overhyped, there are laws to protect against them. Just stay within your scope and help
ChatGPT tells me all 50 US states have Good Samaritan laws, but the details vary. However since it didn’t give me the link to verify, that may be just a hallucination
Why even bother posting this?
Is this an attempt at satire, or is this your first day?
It was attempted. The serious point is most places have some variation of a Good Samaritan law, so you shouldn’t be afraid to help. However like others said, the details vary by locale so there is no single answer. I even saw one where medical professionals were mandated to help.
Then it was an attempt at satire, apparently a poor attempt
Slop
This is an interesting one.
I applaud your mom for helping, she must be prepared at all times? I mean I carry an AFAK (Advanced Individual First Aid Kit) to work or to the range for example. But I would be totally useless in a traffic accident. Like okay, maybe I can tourniquet a limb, put a splint on (high risk), or use a homeostatic bandage and maybe that will get you by until EMS shows up. Really, unless you know exactly what you’re doing, you could kill someone.
And your sister is completely correct. You don’t have to be right to sue someone, odds are it’s a wasted expense on both parties. Anecdotally, when my sister got into a car accident with my car, the stupid cunt my sister had ran into had the gall to try and sue my mom as well as myself. They couldn’t get to me at all, I was 2000 miles away. If only I had my personal attorney that I do today, I would have sued right back.
It depends on what kind of a nurse your sister is. Not all nurses have the same experiences and well it could traumatize them for life. I would trust a combat medic over most nurses. I mean I had a nurse that fucked up an IV 4 times before I told him hey do it like this, I need to be mobile, tape here, tape there. My mom was a head nurse, and when she had surgery it was funny to hear how many times she had to correct the nurses.
Another thing is your mom might have the eye of who’s viable and who’s a casualty. And that’s a hard thing to accept. I mean going home one time, I saw a guy on the road from a motorcycle crash and people trying to help him. He’s screaming in agony, blood is everywhere. No helmet. Think, a peak time parking lot of cars you see in California traffic surrounding the area. I was like, yeah he’s dead, I think I saw it the news actually creepy. At least my brain mostly blocked out that one except the screams.
So yeah, your sister might not want to experience that nor has the confidence to mend a situation like that.
But I would be totally useless in a traffic accident. Like okay, maybe I can tourniquet a limb, put a splint on (high risk), or use a homeostatic bandage and maybe that will get you by until EMS shows up.
don’t underestimate how important it is to be able to evaluate a casualty. your training and skills will stop those ‘oh I’m fine’ 0.o pupils dilated types that want to go home, or knowing what shock looks like, knowing that feeling clammy and sick to one’s stomach might indicate a cardiac event etc., I hope people don’t give up on helping others, stuff like this saves lives.
I know, I help when I can. Part of why I carry an AFAK to work, had a coworker step on a nail. He didn’t notice because he’s diabetic. I noticed bloody shoe prints everywhere, at least the first aid kit had homeostatic powder. He was good enough to go home with a wrap. While he didn’t panic, I know there are plenty of people that would.
And when she asked them to voluntarily cover them, they counter offered $800. Talk about a slap in the face
Your mom
BOOM, ROASTED!
I also think there’s a non-zero chance to get into trouble but there’s also a non-zero chance to get hit by lightning soooo…
Your sister is going to have a crisis of conscience/faith at some point, since she’s definitely in the wrong career/line of work if she’s a nurse that doesn’t want to help people. If she’s just there for the paycheck, she’s still in the wrong line of work because they don’t get paid enough for what they get put through.
Didn’t sound like they don’t want to help people, rather don’t want to get sued helping people on the street. Someone showed good Samaritan’s lose their lawsuit 4.5% of the time.
I suppose if someone tried to help but made the injury worse there’s an argument there but a trained nurse would presumably know what they’re doing.
Not your English teacher
both are right, product from their era. People have become more litigious, and your sister grew up with that culture, whereas your mother didn’t
It’s not the people who are sue-happy. It’s the health insurance companies trying not to pay for coverage. The completely absurd lawsuits - McDonalds coffee, aunt suing nephew, all the suits against good samaritans - are subrogated cases, where the named plaintiff is obligated to allow their insurer to file suit in their name.
Subrogation is also behind most medical malpractice cases: health insurers suing doctors and hospitals in the name of the patient, just so the insurer isn’t the one paying the bill.
The McDonald’s one wasn’t crazy either if you look into it the lady tried, McDonald’s engaged in unsafe practices which lead to a customer being hurt
The crazy part was that her bills were only going to be covered if she filed suit. The original demand was for just $20,000 to cover those bills.
The fucking McDonald’s case will never cease to haunt the internet.
In civilised countries there are robust laws protecting the customers and oversight agencies doling out fines or even closing up unsafe establishments. In the US, you have to sue the restaurant that caused you disfigurement and disability through their repeated and reported unsafe practices just so you can pay your resulting medical bills, and the internet will forever ridicule you for it.
In the US, you can’t be held liable for making a good-faith effort to render aid; it’s called the Good Samaritan Law.
It depends on how oblivious your sister is.
She has just seen to many lawsuits from traveling around. Like if you give CPR to an elderly person or something and break a rib you are responsible.
If a nurse won’t give CPR to somebody because they’re afraid of getting sued for a broken rib, then they shouldn’t be a nurse.
I’ve been CPR trained, and we were taught that broken ribs are a normal outcome, and we shouldn’t let that worry slow us down, because the alternative is the person dying. I’ve done CPR on somebody that overdosed in the parking lot until someone showed up with narcan, and I’d do it again.
Its a convenient excuse. I know that’s easy for me to say, not being the person to face the small chance of liability. I just don’t know how someone trained can walk past and be like not my problem. Seems so fucking cold
If you’re in the US, good Samaritan law will protect against that situation. They could try and sue, but it will on all likelihood be thrown out.
Ask if they need help. If they say yes, you’re good. *
* this is not legal advice™
Malica@lemmy.zip 6 hours ago
Your mom