i remember an episode of royal pains, on USA. where the 2 doctors(the lead actor and the woman doc) were sitting at a restaurant and someone start choking, the lady doc said wait to see anyone is helping just incase they become liable for being the first to respond in case the "patient dies or becomes injured. only after some deliberation they intervened.
If at a restaurant a guy is choking and I give them the Heimlich and accidentally break a rib while trying to save his life. Can I be sued?
Submitted 6 hours ago by Patnou@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Comments
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 hour ago
adespoton@lemmy.ca 6 hours ago
Depends on the country you’re in. Some have Good Samaritan laws; some don’t.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 hour ago
the problem is you need to spend legal fees, and time to defend yourself even against a frivilous lawsuit. some people are “vexacious litigious”(legal term for sue-happy) just to drown you in legal fees.
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 3 hours ago
And some (for example, most of continental Europe) take further and have a duty to assist, where if there’s no one more qualified to help you are required to do your best to assist.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 hours ago
No.
Legal Eagle had a video where he answered this question a while back. I don’t remember the exact one, tho; it was one where he answers a bunch of questions as opposed to a single topic of discussion.
Grimm665@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 hours ago
In CPR classes and other trainings in which I was taught the Heinrich, you are supposed to get consent from the person choking before performing the maneuver. Usually you ask clearly and loudly, and assume a nod is consent. If the person goes unconscious, consent is implied for giving CPR. Whether that is legally defendable in court if they decide to sue you after the fact, I have no idea.
jqubed@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
I would guess that’s as much about making sure you don’t try to perform the Heimlich on someone who doesn’t actually need it, but would probably cover OP’s concern
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 30 minutes ago
This is absolutely the primary reason why people are taught to do this. If they’re having something like an anaphylactic reaction, heimlich could complicate things or delay care long enough they die. As a bonus, it can also help with the legal repercussions after the fact too, but that’s secondary to its role in emergency treatment.
There’s another one that’s taught in the same spirit: if someone needs an epi-pen you should put it in their hand and “help them” inject themselves. As I understand it this one does also offer useful legal protection, since very few places with Good Samaritan laws have extended them to cover administration of medication, ut primarily it’s a good way to get nonverbal consent to treatment. Either you were helping them treat themselves, or they were so weak they couldn’t prevent you from helping them thus you were helping an incapacitated person to the best of your ability.
mrmaplebar@fedia.io 3 hours ago
Only if you have a boner.
y0kai@anarchist.nexus 5 hours ago
eh if they try, just put the food back.
DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 4 hours ago
Shoves wad of balled meat down the plaintiff’s throat in court then dusts off hands performatively. “There we go, mistake rectified. We good your honor?”
echo@lemmy.today 6 hours ago
It really depends on the laws of where you are and what knowledge you have. A significant portion of the time if you have some nominal level of training, but less than professional training/standing then you’ll be covered by ‘good Samaritan’ laws. (I’m only talking about the U.S.)
If you know nothing about what you’re trying to do then the odds are you’ll still be covered, but don’t do that. If you have professional training/standing then you might be held to a higher standard.
meco03211@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Rest assured Dr. Henry Heimlich will sue your ass into the ground for using his name for that “maneuver.” It’s to be called the abdominal thrust maneuver.
ODuffer@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
I was told this during my first aid training. I was also told that if I’m sued, and was following the training I was provided (St John Ambulance, UK) they would cover liability. Only the training though, no tracheotomy with a biro lol. In addition, a quick search says, there has never been a successful case of suing a first aider in the UK, and the SARAH Act has further strengthened this position.
massive_bereavement@fedia.io 1 hour ago
Ah St. John Ambulance, inventor of the Ambulances, great guy.
over_clox@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Depends on how you cook it…
wiltrvls@lemmy.zip 4 hours ago
With this and chest compressions, I always thought that broken ribs were almost a given.
OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
You can always be sued - just depends on how strong their case against you is
schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 16 minutes ago
Legal questions can’t be answered without information on jurisdiction.
Usually the answer is: yes, you can be sued because you can be sued for anything (suing just means: asking a court to award damages, not actually getting them), doesn’t mean the person suing you will get very far.