Karma is a bitch.

btrflykate1230 · July 2010

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/19/national/main6691662.shtml?tag=strip

[Deleted User] · July 2010

Wow. Good lord. I can't believe they didn't help that woman. Isn't that part of some kind of oath they take? Or is that just doctors? Or maybe I'm just dumb.

btrflykate1230 · July 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_karma-bitch?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:da7a1890-09ab-4917-a30c-0df5a604f255Post:b18c641b-f2f0-48fb-8456-548bdfd05306">Re: Karma is a bitch.</a>:
[QUOTE]Wow. Good lord. I can't believe they didn't help that woman. Isn't that part of some kind of oath they take? Or is that just doctors? Or maybe I'm just dumb.
Posted by cew515[/QUOTE]

I don't know if they do, but he was on "break" when she died, so he technically wasn't obligated to help her. However, it would have been the right thing to do, you know?

goheels05 · July 2010

Yikes.

I thought so too, cew. My friend is an army medic and she's required to stop for accidents. I figured it's the same thing.

PetraStonegirl · July 2010

It's a result of the sue-first mentality. If they assisted her, and are off duty, they have a very real fear of being sued if something goes wrong. Until the US passes 'failure to assist' laws, requiring us to lend aid as best we can as individuals, without fear of suit, this will continue to happen. Sad.

ETA: Military is much different. They have that requirement, and the military backs them if something goes wrong. Much better system!

[Deleted User] · July 2010

Interesting. I never looked at in from that perspective. So, if something goes wrong and they are off duty, they don't have any malpractice insurance backing them up? That must be the case because otherwise, they would run the same risk when they are on duty as when they are off, right?

You'd think one's moral code would trump the fear of suit in situations like this. Sad.

jasmineh7777 · July 2010

I can't imagine living with myself after letting a woman and newborn die.

[Deleted User] · July 2010

Wow, that's horrible. It reminds me of my uncle. He went to the doc and got a shot of some kind. On the ride home he started to have a severe allergic reaction and his airways started to swell. He pulled over and tried flagging down cars, all the while nearly suffocating.

Finally, a car stopped and it was a doctor on his way home from working at the hospital. He saved my uncle's life. My uncle has a wife and kids, if an off-duty doc ignored him he would no longer be here.

btrflykate1230 · July 2010

OMG Seshat! I'm so glad he's okay! That's really scary!

goheels05 · July 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_karma-bitch?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:da7a1890-09ab-4917-a30c-0df5a604f255Post:05351d97-d767-4fbd-8693-331ce645e8b3">Re: Karma is a bitch.</a>:
[QUOTE]It's a result of the sue-first mentality. If they assisted her, and are off duty, they have a very real fear of being sued if something goes wrong. Until the US passes 'failure to assist' laws, requiring us to lend aid as best we can as individuals, without fear of suit, this will continue to happen. Sad. ETA: Military is much different. They have that requirement, and the military backs them if something goes wrong. Much better system!
Posted by PetraStonegirl[/QUOTE]

That makes sense.

Malpractice suits suck. If people would chill with that shiit, we'd have a lot fewer problems and healthcare would be cheaper.

Steph0871 · July 2010

Maybe it's just Minnesota, but we do have a clause (I can't remember what it's called), that protects people who are trying to help. Maybe ETMs are exempt, though, because they are paid and professionally trained?

kd.joseph · July 2010

That's utterly ridiculous, they could have at least stabilized her until "on-duty" EMT's arrived. This makes me fear for the human race.

And if judges wouldn't let silly law suits even go to court maybe people wouldn't be so afraid to do the right thing.

PetraStonegirl · July 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_karma-bitch?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:da7a1890-09ab-4917-a30c-0df5a604f255Post:f82b8ae5-2b95-4f89-b66c-9ecfa05eac6e">Re: Karma is a bitch.</a>:
[QUOTE]Interesting. I never looked at in from that perspective. <strong>So, if something goes wrong and they are off duty, they don't have any malpractice insurance backing them up?</strong> That must be the case because otherwise, they would run the same risk when they are on duty as when they are off, right? You'd think one's moral code would trump the fear of suit in situations like this. Sad.
Posted by cew515[/QUOTE]

<div>Yes, when they are on duty, their employer's malpractice insurance covers them. But, when not on duty, an EMT in this country is just an average joe, sort of. A friend of mine was an EMT. She was off duty, camping with her family at a near by area frequented by rock climbers... and drunken college students who think they can climb. She watched a guy fall 40+ ft and was the only one to assist, knowing she wasn't covered by MI. </div><div>
</div><div>She called 911, informed dispatch who she was (she worked for the county sheriffs), gave them the rundown, and requested life flight evac due to the severity of the injuries. Unfortunately, even though she identified herself, dispatch decided to send out a patrol car to verify that it wasn't a drunken prank. She spent 6 hours with this guy bleeding out in her hands doing everything she could, including things that placed her life at risk, calling repeatedly for life flight before the deputy finally found them and confirmed the life flight call. He died before the helicopter arrived, it was about 2 am. </div><div>
</div><div>The family, thankfully, was gracious enough not to sue. A good (and thoroughly evil) lawyer could have argued that she should have loaded the guy into her vehicle and transported him herself, even though her professional opinion was that she didn't have the resources to move him safely. I hate that we don't have failure-to-assist laws in this country. </div><div>
</div><div>As an aside, failure-to-assist is what they were able to nail the paparazzi with after Princess Di passed away. Because they took pictures, instead of lending aid.</div>

PetraStonegirl · July 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_karma-bitch?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:da7a1890-09ab-4917-a30c-0df5a604f255Post:65173331-e9af-49d8-805d-10954cb49752">Re: Karma is a bitch.</a>:
[QUOTE]Maybe it's just Minnesota, but we do have a clause (I can't remember what it's called), that protects people who are trying to help. <strong>Maybe ETMs are exempt, though, because they are paid and professionally trained?</strong>
Posted by Steph0871[/QUOTE]

<div>This. I'm not sure about Minnesota, but in the states I've dealt with, this is the case.</div>

AllAboutTheBenjamin · July 2010

Karma is definitely a bitch...

Seshat - your story about your uncle reminds me of a friend of my dad's. He was hunting last fall and didn't feel very well, so he went to the doctor. The doctor told him nothing was wrong. The next day he was driving a semi truck and had a heart attack. His truck went off the road and luckily no one else was hurt - but he passed away. Horrible.

Steph0871 · July 2010

Now that I think of it, you're right Petra.

I was a "health advocate" when I lived in the dorms my sophomore year of college. Most of the time, we just handed out advil, condoms, and pregnancy tests. But we were trained in minor first aid/cpr/etc. I do remember them telling us it was voluntary, because we couldn't be paid. As volunteers, we were still covered under that Good Samaritan law.

Karma is a bitch.

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