In my line of work we're caught under a two edged sword.

Good Samaritan Law, supposed to protect you.

Duty To Act, if your caught passing a Pt by and someone knows your certified to deal with the situation you can be charged with abandonment.

 

I believe this to be vital! My father and I took a St. Johns Advanced First Aid course a few years ago as we both work in the oil patch / construction field and thought it would be good to have.4 days after completion, we witnessed a car go off the road and roll. The lady driving the car was 7 months pregnant. We administered first aid and pulled the hot line on the battery to prevent any fires. Other motorists showed up and wanted to move her but we stood fast and kept her immobilized. Turned out to be a very good choice as her neck was broken. The EMT's say we saved her life and the life of her child. The amazing thing was that turned out to be the niece of an old friend my father had gone to school with 45 years before. It's a small world out there.

 

There are a few opinions so far...17 yrs of blood and guts will set you strait.

1. You can and probably will be held accountable for what you may be preceived of possably doing.....Follow what I'm saying. Screw the Good Sam Law. Think "ACLU" and political correctness, who has the most money?

2. Do-gooders can often end up involved in court.

3. Common-sence is better than first aid classes.

4. Do you really want to see someones body ripped apart, how about your kids or wife. Morefamily size prozac please.

5. I have been blocked from entry to the scene by do-gooders, "GETTHE F#^K BACK!" I don't have time. MY Livelyhood is on the line now. I will talk to you prior to leaving the scene, your involved now and if you leave I will have the cops track you down. You could have caused it for all I know (refer to #2).

6. If you choose to stay, you now become expressly my assistant and my responsibility"DO EXACTLY WHAT I SAY...PERIOD!", I AM LOUDAND DIRECT and no I'm not mad at you. I may utilize you for crowd control until relieved or... (insert... whatereverI can think of).

7. IDO, Appreciate your concern and essence of wellbeing and brotherly love. THANK YOU! (refer to #2).

8. When it's your time, your done PERIOD! I can'tfix dead.


MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

Having been trained in first aide, as a boy scout, then a lifeguard and finally in the Army, there is no way I could pass by an accident without atleast offering assistance. What's this world coming to if you can be prosecuted for helping someone in need?

If the American people ever decide enough is enough and revolt, I wouldn't want to be a lawyer!

 

>> What's this world coming to if you can be prosecuted for helping someone in need? <<

Isn't that the question of the decade?

Here's the truth of it. Good Sams are often dragged in to court for one reason or another. Mostly, the lawyers are just looking for a victim. The involved party is looking for a cash pay out from some one. Doesn't matter who, as long as they get some cash. Listen to the Salazar commercial, "We'll get you the money you deserve".

If you're not there to be sued or prosecuted, you'll be there to testify. Over and over. With multiple court dates. Sitting for hours in a waiting room. If you've ever dealt with this type of issue know exactly what I'm talking about. The lawyer just assumes you'll drop everything at any time to do his/her bidding.

>> I will talk to you prior to leaving the scene, your involved now and if you leave I will have the cops track you down. <<

Yeah, I'v had EMT's and Paramedics try that with me. Once I ascertain that I can be of no further assistance, I leave. I've never been tracked down. Ever. Now you're talking about MY livelyhood. I'm not going to be dragged though all that cra p for no good reason. I have patients to see and a life to live.

 

OK folks
We have forgot the most important item. B.S.I.= Body substance isolation. Protect yourself from bodily fluids. Its great that you want to assist, but don't put yourself in harms way. HIV and some forms of Hep. can not be curesd.
Remember to always look out for #1 so you don't step in #2.

 

You only have a duty to act if your on duty, paidEMT, firefighter, or police officer.Abandonment isif you start treatment and then leave without transfering care to someone of equal or greater skill. ie. nurse to doctor, medic to nurse. If you are trained in emergency medicine you are held to what is known as the standard of care. This means you must treat the injured person as such another person with the same training is expected to do. If you are just first aid certified good samaratin laws protect you against doing any harm. Good advise to follow, only move the person as much as need be to keep them safe. Look out for traffic, this is your biggest concern when stopping to help, period. I wouldn't do mouth to mouth on a stranger, to many bad things out there. Control bleeding with direct pressure and elevation. If you are trained in airway management, try to keep the airway open. Stay safe.

 

It is mandatory among us (HOG members, at least in my Chapter) to take a course to certify ourselves in paramedic first aid. It lasts an entire weekend, 16 hours total. It covers pretty muchanything regarding accidents on motorcycles (CPR, Inmovilization, accident scene control, safe helmet removal, legal aspects, first aid kit -group custom-... the list goes on...

It is an accident, being so, the scennarios are pretty much endless... depending on the situation is how it is handled.

Mimo.

 

First off Take a class. You may want to see if you can get your local HOG chapter or HD shop to sponser a class so everyone that rides together is on the same page when it comes to resuscitating as a pair/team, as well as many other aspects that could occur.
Make sure the airway is clear. If they're bleeding profusely out of the mouth you may want to get them on their side so they don't drown in their blood, but check on this with an up to date trained med tech now so you know if this is actually the priority at this date and time. If you're not carrying a KED board it's a bit more complicated to stabilize them before turning them so they don't drown in their own blood. It's been 16 years since my last class, so I'm not up to date right now
(should have been lower but I can't cut and paste so fake it) If you have space carrying a blood pressure cuff/instrumentsphyg ?nano meter, is good for not only takeblood pressure, but in the event of heavy bleeding youcan put the cuff over the wound and apply pressure with it to curtail theflow, and then concentrate onother things while that is taken care of.
You look for 'guarding' which is an indication that there is injury to the area that the victim/patient is favoring or protecting. Note this and pass it on, in case the patient goes unconcious. Take a class
There is what is know as the golden hour. The patient should be in the emergency room within and hour of their survival rate isgreatly diminished.
I was also told what ever you do, do no harm.
Don't move the head and neck, but you want to, if you know how, take vital signs, pulse rate and strenth, respirations per minute and note if they are labored or shallow or...,you might want to do a capillary refill check, distal pressure indicator,by pushingin on thenails and count how long in seconds it takes for the blood to fill back in- white is blood gone, red or pinkness is the blood coming back to that area. This will indicateif there is some sort of occlusion to the blood flow.
If there is a puncture to the chest area then what is called a 'sucking chest wound' can happen. Air goes into the chest area and builds up creating pressure against and collapsing the lung(s), so there is what's called an 'occlusive bandage' that you put a patch over the wound and tape off three sides so no air passes, this 'bandage' can be a piece of plastic bag, or in a pinch a gauze pad that has vaseline or something to keep air from passing into the chest, but the key is that the fourth side is left open but with something like vaseline or something that will seal the bandage from letting air in, but it will let air pressure out of the chest when the open end has air blown out and lifts the bandage so the air can escape and not be in the chest to put pressure against the lungs. I would think this could be an injury sustained in a motorcycle accident with just one person involved even, with a tree branch or whatever.
Hell, a piece of glove taped off on three sides and miracle spooge on the fourth could save a guys life, as long as it doesn't take forever to come up with that spooge

Lots of stuff to know, just for good basic observations, let alone basic care.

Paramedic? Here in AZ that level requires alot of experience.
They're the guys that can IV and administer drugs on site.
As an emt, first level,you're not supposed to administer drugs at all, but as my instructor said, 'you can help them administer them themselves, like pushing their hand to their mouth etc.' yet an emt can put syringes in and administer cardiac meds and pain meds.
An IEMT can IV and give diazipam and morphine and narcan, I think, but not the cardiac

 

"Ambulance crews will sometimes refuse to load a critical patient as, if he dies, they will be automatically charged with manslaughter and practically nobody can save their sorry asses."

Bull ****! Where do you live......OZ?