Ask A Medic

Administer the Stare of life.

And call 911. Reassure pt that help is coming.

All you can do. Cause I had to do it last week.

 

Call 911. Give a good size up. talk to pt. Thats it

 

I like my advice better.

 

Call 911 and move on . Most states have some law in which if you decide to play Ricky Rescue.... err i mean First Responder then you are required to stay on scene and provide care until someone of a higher echelon of care takes over.

 

Not sure if it's just in Georgia or if its a national thing, but there is a good Samaritan law where if u r trying to help someone then they can't sue u if u cause damage.

 

It's your covered for $2 Million if they try to sue you.

 

SC has one also, I believe. I also think that because of that law if someone was in trouble and you were in a position to help and didn't they could sue you for it.

 

That generally applies only to those not trained in more than basic first aid.

If you're a professional, the Good Samaritan Laws may not apply to you.

 

I believe that it applies if you are off duty. But it does not cover you while on shift

 

I would definitely check first.

 

I know here in FL the "good samartin" Law applies for EMS workers when off duty. And Off-duty EMS workers have no obligation to stop and help.

But if you are an EMS professional and stop to help you have to help within your own scope of practice in a prudent fashion.

 

That's why I keep the blinders up when I drive by an accident.

 

The only reason why I would ever stop is if I knew EMS would be pretty far out.

Here in the area I live in EMS/Fire is on scene within 5 mintues of the call, pretty much everywhere. Max is 10 minutes.

So stopping to help really doesn't help.

 

If my wife, father, mother, sister daughter was in an accident and dying I'd want somebody to stop. At the very least I'd like to know someone was with them in their last moments instead by themselves alone.

I'll stop if EMS isn't on scene and it's serious. I don't care. Lot of times people stop and they'll stand a the road side staring.

 

I wish we weren't such a litigious society because this is what I'd hope for anyone in this circumstance. Regardless of whether you were a trained or not, sometimes it's the only thing you can do for someone--be there.

 

Ditto the above. A few daysago on my plane ride the flight attendants asked for help. No one looked too paniced so I didnt step up. Eventually a nurse did. I helped a couple times before as an EMT but I wont now as a doc.

 

For me it's a moral obligation to sit there with them at least. As I stand I only have basic First Aid/CPR for Adult and Children and take classes every year to re-learn everything I may have forgotten. It's what got me started with wanting to be a nurse in the first place. I saw a guy spazz out, for lack of a better word, at a restaurant and had no clue what to do and felt so helpless; so much so that I decided I never wanted to have that feeling again because it's one of the worst feeling I've ever felt. In my area an ambulance can be 30 minutes away or more, 1 hospital in county with 5 ambulances I believe, so unless I see the lights I'll stop and offer help as best I can and I hope someone would do the same for me or my loved ones. I also believe that basic cpr/first aid should be taught in school at a young age and re-uped every year.
Edit: I'm taking an EMT Class at the end of January if all goes well I'll have a job in late Feb early March as an EMT which, for a 19 y/o in college, doesn't pay to badly.

 

Your EMT class is less then a month long?

 

And this is why Good Samaritan laws must allow for trained professionals to stop and render what aid they can without fear of repercussion.

 

I'm really not sure it was just sort of a guess. How long would it be? I wouldn't think it would be more than a few months at most.