helpya Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 A friend of mine told me of a situation in which he was off duty and gave cpr, the man later died, he worried that he would be responsible for his death, is this an accurate fear . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Plain Ruff Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 Depends on the laws in your state. Usually you get covered under the good samaritan laws of your state. Anyone can sue for anything so it's not out of the realm that he would get sued but unlikely. An attorney if he's worried can tell him and usually for free for the first consultation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEorP Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 A friend of mine told me of a situation in which he was off duty and gave cpr, the man later died, he worried that he would be responsible for his death, is this an accurate fear . Assuming your friend was giving CPR for the right reasons, the pt was dead already :wink: I guess you can be sued for anything, but I would not be too concerned as long as he did not screw something up or try to do a skill he isn't certified to do. Just doing CPR and having the pt die when off duty I wouldn't be too worried about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridryder 911 Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 As stated above, like any other treatment given "off duty" one is no more than a first responder. Good Samaritan should be applicable. What worries me is that should had been addressed in EMT class .. even in CPR class this is taught and well discussed. R/R 911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustdevil Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 A friend of mine told me of a situation in which he was off duty and gave cpr, the man later died, he worried that he would be responsible for his death, is this an accurate fear . Sounds like your friend is either unreasonably paranoid, or else his EMT school sucked and he didn't learn a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xselerate Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Shouldn't he have just done CPR untill an ambulance arrived, then they would have taken over CPR and patient care. The patient would have either been pronounced by medics or transported and it wouldn't have been his responsability anymore. Seems simple enough to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asysin2leads Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Remember that whole part about misfeasance, nonfeasance, good samaritan, etc. etc. that was covered in like the first chapter of EMT class? Go back an reread it. Maybe you need to fill in some more info, but you said "he did CPR, and the guy died." As stated before, he was already dead. If your friend did CPR on a LIVE person, and killed them, yeah, he's in some trouble, boy howdy, no one has a sense of humor about that stuff anymore. CPR doesn't kill people. Paramedics do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 I've came across a few people who have only done the compressions and didn't bother with the airway since they didn't have a barrier. If this is accepted, then I wouldn't worry to much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridryder 911 Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Nate, this is the accepted layman CPR method from AHA... yeah, it is hard to kill a dead man... R/R 911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Nate, this is the accepted layman CPR method from AHA... yeah, it is hard to kill a dead man... R/R 911 I recently ran a child who had a family member doing CPR on them....and they were alive and well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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