I just want to break stuff!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081218/ap_on_re_us/samaritan_protection

Quote :

"Calif. Court: Would-be Good Samaritan can be sued By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer Paul Elias, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 18, 6:22 pm ETLOS ANGELES – Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, the state's high court on Thursday said a would-be Good Samaritan accused of rendering her friend paraplegic by pulling her from a wrecked car "like a rag doll" can be sued. California's Supreme Court ruled that the state's Good Samaritan law only protects people from liability if the are administering emergency medical care, and that Lisa Torti's attempted rescue of her friend didn't qualify. Justice Carlos Moreno wrote for a unanimous court that a person is not obligated to come to someone's aid. "If, however, a person elects to come to someone's aid, he or she has a duty to exercise due care," he wrote. Torti had argued that she should still be protected from a lawsuit because she was giving "medical care" when she pulled her friend from a car wreck. Alexandra Van Horn was in the front passenger seat of a car that slammed into a light pole at 45 mph on Nov. 1, 2004, according to her negligence lawsuit. Torti was a passenger in a car that was following behind the vehicle and stopped after the crash. Torti said when she came across the wreck she feared the car was going to explode and pulled Van Horn out. Van Horn testified that Torti pulled her out of the wreckage "like a rag doll." Van Horn blamed her friend for her paralysis. Whether Torti is ultimately liable is still to be determined, but Van Horn's lawsuit can go forward, the Supreme Court ruled. Beverly Hills lawyer Robert Hutchinson, who represented Van Horn, said he's pleased with the ruling. Torti's attorney, Ronald Kent, of Los Angeles didn't immediately return a telephone call. "

12/21/2008 2:47:10 PM

hah, welcome to the world, kickstand

paramedics can also be sued for chipping your tooth by mistake when we are intubating you to breathe for you and save your life

it's pretty fucked up

although, in this case, the girl should have waited for rescue to show up, she needed to be boarded and extricated properly... her actions were pretty fucking retarded.

when you're dealing with someone's life, it's best to leave it to the professionals

12/21/2008 2:49:18 PM

why do they keep referring the two as "friends"

what kind of friend would sue you for something like this

[Edited on December 21, 2008 at 2:52 PM. Reason : erwt]

12/21/2008 2:51:33 PM

Lawyers running things while at the same time not understanding medicine or science is the cause of a lot of flaws in our system. High medical costs due to lawsuits is just one of them.

12/21/2008 2:51:49 PM

this world is fucked up

12/21/2008 2:52:16 PM

liberal activist judges

12/21/2008 2:52:19 PM

This is pretty fucking disgusting.

12/21/2008 2:53:04 PM

And the moral of the story is, don't be anywhere near an accident scene. And if you are, pretend you didn't notice anything and make sure the victim didn't see you.

12/21/2008 2:55:06 PM

apparently in cali, don't help nobody.

12/21/2008 2:57:45 PM

Quote :

"what kind of friend would sue you for something like this"

the kind you crippled by over reacting based on some shit you saw in a jerry bruckheimer movie

as i said in the soap box thread

if you don't know enough to do your best to keep me from winding up paralyzed, i don't want to be saved by you

12/21/2008 2:58:25 PM

some of you guys are missing the point

she should NOT have pulled her from the car. she should have waited for the people who know what they're doing and can extricate her properly without paralyzing her.

she needed to be fully immobilized.

this does NOT qualify as "emergency medical care," it is extrication, therefore the dumb bitch isn't protected.

"OMG MY FRIEND IS TRAPPED IN A CAR I BETTER PULL HER OUT" - you're going to do more harm than good.

Quote :

"And the moral of the story is, don't be anywhere near an accident scene. And if you are, pretend you didn't notice anything and make sure the victim didn't see you."

no, the moral of this story is: don't try and be a firefighter when you have no fucking clue what you're doing

12/21/2008 3:00:31 PM

^ it depends on what made her think the car was going to explode, if there was no fire then yeah she obviously should have left her still. She may have seen too many action movies.

12/21/2008 3:02:40 PM

yeah, i don't think the car was on fire though

any reasonable and sane person would not have pulled that girl out of her car by themselves, i think we can all agree on that

12/21/2008 3:11:16 PM

the paramedics were careless with my sister and gave her too way much (like 3x the normal dose) of the wrong kind of medication.

motherfucker who did it thought he was a doctor. needless to say, after she died our lawyers were itchin to go after the ems. we didn't sue, but the guy did get fired and made sure he never went on to medical school

as for this case it's tricky. the girl probably should have waited for paramedics but who knows what we would do if we were in a state of shock and saw our friend stuck in a car

12/21/2008 3:13:21 PM

Quote :

"LIGHT POLE EXPLOSION"

12/21/2008 3:14:34 PM

this is why you mind your own business.

12/21/2008 3:14:49 PM

Quote :

"the paramedics were careless with my sister and gave her too way much (like 3x the normal dose) of the wrong kind of medication."

well that's a different story all together

that's just blatant malpractice and gross negligence, the guy deserved to be sued and fired. if he exceeded the dose in his standing orders and didn't contact medical direction to get authorization to give a higher dose, he was operating outside his scope of practice.

if there is one thing i can't stand in EMS, it's incompetent medics who think they are doctors... there are way too many of them, too...

12/21/2008 3:16:20 PM