Posted on 08/01/2023 6:40:24 PM PDT by Duke C.
Not surprised at all.
As I expected.
18 years ago in Panama City Beach I watched a fellow in a Z71 immobile Beach traffic suddenly floorboard the accelerator with the wheels turned to the right. He sailed through a faux masonry wall and dropped into a small deep lake. Two just-out-of-Afghanistan vets and their local fireman friend who were walking by chased the truck on foot and had the driver out of the cab as the roof of the truck went below the surface. I, the security guard for the condo got there a few seconds later. The boys were giving the driver CPR but other than being unconscious he seemed to be ok. When I got to him I smelled something like almost alcohol and knew immediately that he had had a seizure because I had had seizures for 6 years after a head injury and had experienced it all and heard all the explanations. The police arrived and wanted to arrest him for drunk and was ordering the saviours away from him when I told the cop that he had had a seizure and needed to go to the hospital and preventing that would bring lawyers and bad headlines. The cop was having none of it. He wanted the Arrest. Then a condo guest ran over and identified herself and confirmed that it was a seizure. The fireman had called an ambulance that got there and the EMTs took over and took the fellow away from the cop and carried him to the ER. I had also confronted an arriving TV reporter who had some knowledge about seizures and who yelled at the cop.
In this case the victim need immediate attention. She did not need the on the scene doctor wasting time jumping through hoops.
Thank God I grew up and live in Fla which has always had strong good Samaritan laws. Once I ID myself as a nurse, an officer can’t really interfere with me if I’m administering aid. I keep my nurses bag in my car, and I now have NARCAN in my bag. I can give the Narcan if it’s obvious by evidence around the patient (crack pipe) or friends/bystanders/family say it’s a drug overdose. That’s why the officers number one job was to contact the family and find out her meds. What I can’t do is diagnose, As long as I use due care, in a very broad sense, Morgan and Morgan would love it in this state if an officer stopped me from administering aid.
By diagnose, I mean telling the person medical conditions, like it looks like you had a diabetic coma starting, rather than treating conditions like, I’m immobilizing your arm to reduce the pain your reporting to me. Or I’m applying pressure to reduce your bleeding. Or to an unconscious patient, I’m administering NARCAN because your friends said you just smoked some bad crack.
Cops fail. Docs fail. Seen it a million times. There are good Samaritan laws to cover when there are real emergencies. When there is medical overage you don’t just rush into a situation that is none of your responsibility and take over. I’ve seen ER docs who were supposed to take over, get fired next day after messing up the case, and telling everyone helping out that they were all doing it wrong. Not to mention the lawsuits that occur if the doc messes up. The worst thing to see is a doc telling the patient they’ll be ok, and watch the patient die right at discharge time. Seen that to. Gotta be a bit more humble, all you brainiacs. You really don’t know it all.
Article 1, Section 6, Clause 1 of US Constitution regarding members of Congress:
They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
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