Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California

As a healthcare professional in California (MD,RN,LVN...etc), will I be heald accountable for not helping in a medical emergency such as for someone choking or needing CPR? Does it make a difference if am in uniform or not? I know there is a good Samaritan law, but in NY that worked against you. Thanks


Asked on 3/08/12, 4:15 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

First of all, this is not the right category for this question. Legal ethics involves the rules and laws governing the attorneys who are licensed to practice in California. You may want to repost in the category for personal injury or tort law, of which this would most likely fit.

You may be mixing up a couple areas of law. This sounds a lot like a homework question, but I'm answering it on the assumption it is not.

At common law, the general rule was that there was no duty to rescue. Thus if you were walking by a lake, and saw a man drowning, you were under no legal duty to jump in and attempt to rescue. The obligation to rescue was purely personal and moral, not legal. But when a person did act to attempt to rescue someone, that person was held to a reasonable standard of care to rescue that other person, and could be sued under a theory of negligence when things did not go well.

Many jurisdictions enacted "Good Samaritan" laws. The ones regarding medical professionals are embodied in Business and Professions Code section 2395, Health and Safety Code section 1799.102, and Civil Code section 1714.5. They basically provide a level of immunity for licensees who act at a scene of an emergency.

But these good Samaritan statutes do not create a duty to rescue. They simply provide various levels of civil immunity when someone does choose to rescue. Depending on the duty status of a licensee, other statutes may require the medical professional to help and depend on the facts and circumstances of a particular case.

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Answered on 3/09/12, 9:28 am


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