Do you help off duty?

[Richard B the EMT]

Oy! Yet another string on stopping at the scene.

Lets do this quick: It is a case of Legal versus Moral obligation. Some areas have legal obligation that any medical, and in some areas, anyone passing by, must stop to render aid of some kind.

Other areas say an off duty person does not have to stop.

NYS has "Good Sam" (Samaritan) laws: If someone stops to render aid to a sick or injured individual, without expectation of being reimbursed, they are covered under "Good Sam", and will be covered in the event of a lawsuit.

Also NYS, we have "Article 30" of the NYS Public Health Laws: A trained personnel as per the DoH level of training, operating within that title, to the best of their ability, and not exceeding such level, will be covered in the event of a lawsuit.

Both are my paraphrasing, the actual; wording is probably similar.

Members of Vollies most likely will stop to render aid until the locals arrive, and it becomes a tossup as to paid personnel, when off duty.

I started Vollie, am now paid municipal, and I carry my equipment bag in the back of my van. You know I stop.

Others from my agency say they won't, yet almost everybody showed up at the Flight 587 American Airlines Crash. Figure those who say they "put on the blinders" don't always do that.

[LisaO925]

For the record, my whole post was more about how I felt about seeing the accident, and wanting to help, and if thats how you guys were / are too.

Then I was curious if any of you would stop or have stopped to help before..

Last night, someone changed my topic title... My "question" was am I normal, it was more about that, and not stopping off duty.

So, my thread got changed around and focused on something different..

[AnthonyM83]

:-/

[Dustdevil]

Last night, someone changed my topic title... My "question" was am I normal, it was more about that, and not stopping off duty.

So, my thread got changed around and focused on something different..

I take it you never bothered to read the site rules. Otherwise, you would know why your topic title was changed. Your original title was some teaser like, "a few questions...", which is forbidden, and certainly no more descriptive of your question than the current one. And all of the above replies came before the title was changed anyhow, so don't blame it on the mods.

I addressed your question. Sorry if others missed it, but perhaps you can use this experience to help you better express yourself clearly in the future.

[LisaO925]

I take it you never bothered to read the site rules. Otherwise, you would know why your topic title was changed. Your original title was some teaser like, "a few questions...", which is forbidden, and certainly no more descriptive of your question than the current one. And all of the above replies came before the title was changed anyhow, so don't blame it on the mods.

I addressed your question. Sorry if others missed it, but perhaps you can use this experience to help you better express yourself clearly in the future.

To answer your rather brute assumption, yes, I had read the rules prior to posting. I did not realise that my title was so vague since I did have a few questions. If I had the choice, I would rather my topic title be a different one, since now it makes the look like its about helping off duty, and not what I meant it to be. Taking it in a different direction then what I had wanted it to go. Perhaps my mistake was asking too many things in one thread?

And your right, it teaches me a few things actually for next time.

[Dustdevil]

To answer your rather brute assumption, yes, I had read the rules prior to posting.

Cool.

Check your account. I have refunded your five points. :wink:

[Asysin2leads]

Rendering aid when needed makes us who we are. But the biggest question you have to ask yourself is "can I really help?" and to answer that is where training, knowledge, experience, and maturity come into play. Now there are a great many people with various t-shirts and bumperstickers that wrongly assume that they have magical powers or that they can "at least hold someone's hand." No, no, no, and NO. Risking getting a semi up the ass for aid, comfort, and possibly cookies is not helping.

Along with this, ask yourself "Am I going to be a hinderence?" Remember, chaotic scenes only get worse as you increase the number of people on scene. If there are firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances on scene, the chances of you having some skill you could add are slim to none. Not only that, but whoever is in charge is going to have to take his mind and focus off of the scene and reply that you are not needed when you go and pester him. Now you just made his job harder.

SOOOOO....

When it comes to stopping and rendering aid, remember the four golden words of EMS: Don't be a moron.

[emtannie]

remember the four golden words of EMS: Don't be a moron.

ROFLMAO..... Those are golden words for life in general.....

[WestSideBorderPatrol]

I've only stopped 3 times in my time as an EMT. Once was b/c I heard the call dispatched and it was literally less than a quarter mile down the road that I was on and it was in my way. lol. I was the first "responder" on scene and assessed the situation and held c-spine until the FD arrived. The patient was riding her bike and was hit by a car. No helmet. I had 2 RN's at the scene and they were basically worthless, I asked one of them to get me a pulse so that I have something to tell the medic when it arrived and she just stared at me like I was from Mars. :?

The second time I stopped was when I was at the beach and a few cars in front of me, someone had t-boned a motorcyclist and he flipped over the handle bars. Once again I just told him to lay still, I left his helmet on, had my buddy hold c-spine and I got a set of vitals and did a quick trauma assessment as the medic rolled up.

The third time was I just stopped one night b/c someone had hit a deer and it was in the middle of the slow lane quivering. I stopped and blocked the lane off and waited for PD to arrive and terminate it.

I won't stop if there is already emergency equipment on scene. In my car, I only have some gloves and a very basic first aid kit.

[unknown]

2 times unfortunate for me I happened upon the scene of motor vehicle accidents and no EMS, Fire or PD had arrived. One was a simple hold c-spine front end collision with air bag deployment. Second was a bleed- guy got out of his car walking around after he almost went through the windshield. He had a pretty serious laceration across his forehead and was bleed pretty good. I no sooner convinced him to sit down and allow me to give him a towel to hold to his forehead when he just slumped over out cold. Still breathing put now +LOC. Good thing he wasn't walking around in the roadway still!