Legal Obligation? Help!

[kamilab]

I am a student nurse and I am having a conflict with one of my teachers who seems to be ill informed but I need proof to fight this battle! She says that a nurse is LEGALLY obligated to stop and perform CPR on someone in need. Whether it be in a grocery store, a car accident, child or adult, you MUST do it. Is this true? I live in Idaho sooo I don't know if that makes a difference?? Please, will someone help me? I have another teacher that agrees with me that it is a MORAL issue, not legal. So, I am trying to prove this teacher wrong because she says just the fact that I question it means that I should not become a nurse. That really hurt my feelings so I am on a mission. Will someone Please help me??

[reesern-63]

I am a student nurse and I am having a conflict with one of my teachers who seems to be ill informed but I need proof to fight this battle! She says that a nurse is LEGALLY obligated to stop and perform CPR on someone in need. Whether it be in a grocery store, a car accident, child or adult, you MUST do it. Is this true? I live in Idaho sooo I don't know if that makes a difference?? Please, will someone help me? I have another teacher that agrees with me that it is a MORAL issue, not legal. So, I am trying to prove this teacher wrong because she says just the fact that I question it means that I should not become a nurse. That really hurt my feelings so I am on a mission. Will someone Please help me??

How is anyone going to know you're a nurse unless you happen to be wearing your hospital ID at the time? Even then, that isn't legal proof that you're a nurse.
Your first instructor is wrong. Your second instructor is right. But I would be really careful about getting into a battle with the first instructor on this. Do you really want to fight her? Is it worth it? That first instructor has the potential to make your life miserable. This might be one of those times when it's better to back down and chose not to fight. Which is more important to you, being right or being a nurse?

[LindaJ.]

Google "duty to rescue" laws.

[kamilab]

I just wanted to add to my post that the teacher that I am having this disagreement with actually assigned me to find out. Well she actually put it this way: "I want you to look this law up because it is a law and you need to be aware of it." So I am proving her wrong because she told me to. She was quite confident about this and had another instructor backing her up and told me "They couldn't wait to see my results!" So although it may be a battle for me in a way, its also an assignment that I intend to fully complete. Thank you!

[LindaJ.]

In that case, I would contact the law firm that the school keeps on retainer and ask them for their legal opinion on the matter.

[insenescence1]

And once again we put our best foot forward when it comes to educating the next generation of RN's.
This instructor is a major part of the problem in entry-level nursing education.
No doubt there is no such law, and this supposed 'academic' is demanding you to conduct an non-intellectual exercise; to prove a negative.
>>>walks away shaking his head>>>

[copperrose]

Talk about eating their young. I've known and had some pretty scary instructors and am pretty glad I survived. I'd do what the other poster said and contact the school legal office and get an opinion. No wonder ther is a nursing shortage.

[ERICUEMS]

Amen INSEN! This is just a silly waste of time. I agree with picking your battles, but I personally would take this one on. I don't believe it's a legal obligation, but I'd darn sure want to know if it is!

[PWhite]

Since you have been requested to "research" this subject, do what Linda J suggested and print it all out.
Easy and Done!

[bryan]

Thanks LindaJ for helping this person. It does seem people are either stupid/uninformed or lazy these day and don't want to do their own research. Life is so much easier today with the internet available to almost everyone. I'm not trying to be a pain in the ash but.........................

[reesern-63]

I just wanted to add to my post that the teacher that I am having this disagreement with actually assigned me to find out. Well she actually put it this way: "I want you to look this law up because it is a law and you need to be aware of it." So I am proving her wrong because she told me to. She was quite confident about this and had another instructor backing her up and told me "They couldn't wait to see my results!" So although it may be a battle for me in a way, its also an assignment that I intend to fully complete. Thank you!

I wish you would have said that in the first place. That was really dishonest of you. Do your own homework like the rest of us did.

[passion4healing]

If you are assumed by the general public that you are a healthcare provider eg: nurse license plate on your car, scrubs with nursing badge, driving an ambulance, etc and you come across someone who is sick/dead/dying, you are legally obligated to help this person, and are held to the standards of your profession. If you choose not to help, you can be charged with abandonment. You also MUST transfer care to an equal or higher level than yourself. You can't just leave the patient. That would be abandonment too.
That being said, you are also held to the standards of care expected by your peers in that situation, and can be found negligent if you don't do what is expected of someone of your training (realistic expectations) especially if you don't have the right equipment...
The good samaritan law protects bystanders who help at a scene: a layperson, or a nurse/doctor/emt/paramedic etc who does not identify themself as a medical professional. They can not be held legally responsible if a person sues them for injuring them while trying to help them.
Hope that helps a little. Easy searches on this stuff on the web. You should know this stuff!!!

[insenescence1]

If you are assumed by the general public that you are a healthcare provider eg: nurse license plate on your car, scrubs with nursing badge, driving an ambulance, etc and you come across someone who is sick/dead/dying, you are legally obligated to help this person, and are held to the standards of your profession. If you choose not to help, you can be charged with abandonment. You also MUST transfer care to an equal or higher level than yourself. You can't just leave the patient. That would be abandonment too.
That being said, you are also held to the standards of care expected by your peers in that situation, and can be found negligent if you don't do what is expected of someone of your training (realistic expectations) especially if you don't have the right equipment...
The good samaritan law protects bystanders who help at a scene: a layperson, or a nurse/doctor/emt/paramedic etc who does not identify themself as a medical professional. They can not be held legally responsible if a person sues them for injuring them while trying to help them.
Hope that helps a little. Easy searches on this stuff on the web. You should know this stuff!!!

Thought it important to point out that almost everything in your post is simply incorrect.
A license plate or clinically-related clothing does not legally obligate anyone to provide assistance. Saying things like this promotes fear and places providers at risk. The laws vary from state to state, but a provider who stops is not held to the standards of their profession. Nursing care has a limited role in the prehospital setting. If an RN chooses to just drive on by without stopping and instead gawks on by like everyone else, they cannot be charged with abandonment.
Also, there would be considerable debate as to whether the highest level of prehospital care (i.e. a paramedic, if one even showed up depending on the location), would be considered an equal or higher level of care, and such a myth would improperly think that an RN who encountered an accident would be obligated to stop and accompany the patient all the way to the hospital where she/he would transfer care to another RN or a physician. Since this is pointless and impractical, it's not wise to promote this idea. The paramedics typically do not want the RN getting in the way in the ambulance, especially when the RN is out of their element and is not permitted to practice in that environment.
There are four elements which must exist for a malpractice lawsuit (i.e. abandonment) to be successful, and a license plate or clothing does not engage any of these elements.
Finally, the Good Samaritan Laws (state dependent) do not provide any more or less protection to an RN/MD/EMT, etc, that stops and does not identify themselves compared to one who does.
I personally would be interested in seeing any supporting references.

[peady2]

If you are assumed by the general public that you are a healthcare provider eg: nurse license plate on your car, scrubs with nursing badge, driving an ambulance, etc and you come across someone who is sick/dead/dying, you are legally obligated to help this person, and are held to the standards of your profession. If you choose not to help, you can be charged with abandonment. You also MUST transfer care to an equal or higher level than yourself. You can't just leave the patient. That would be abandonment too.

The answer is not as easy as this person makes it out to be. An assumption by the general public does not equate to a professional relationship with a patient. You can not be charged with abandonment unless you first establish a professional relationship with a person in need of assistance. However it is correct that once you begin to render aid you can not stop without transferring care to an equally competent person. While most likely an ambuance will respond and the EMS personnel would be considered equally competent to the nurse (or physician) to render pre-hospital care, there could conceivably be an instance where the health care provider might be required to make a trip with the patient. One scenario that comes to mind is if there are no responding ambulances because of an inaccessible location and a decision is made to transport the person by car to a more accessible area.
Another concept to consider is that laws vary from state to state. Therefore to make a blanket statement such as the one above, is inaccurate. In fact, at one time, there was no legal obligation for a health care professional to offer emergency aid, unless s/he caused the condition in the first place. However, with the advent of individual state Good Samaritan laws, it is correct that some states do legally require that a health care professional (or any other person) stop and offer aid at an accident scene.
My suggestion to the original poster is to research your state's Good Samaritan laws for a definitive answer for your state. So your instructor may also be incorrect to make such a blanket statement, unless s/he knows that Idaho law requires this, and is specifically referring to the state of Idaho.
I will offer excerpts from 2 articles to support my post:

Under long accepted legal principles, an individual, even a physician, has no legal obligation to go to the aid of anyone in need of assistance, as long as his conduct is not responsible for the distress. There is no duty owed to members of the public with whom no relationship or contract exists.
From JSTOR.org as excerpted from the American Journal of Nursing,
The Law and the Nurse: Good Samaritan Laws by Nathan Hershey
Vol. 65, No. 9 (September 1965) pp. 117-119
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In most states, when you encounter an accident scene, you don't have any legal duty to assist the victims. They aren't your patients, and they have no legal claim to your professional services. (Whether you have an ethical obligation to them is another issue.)
If, however, you stop your car at the scene, you now incur a legal obligation by giving the appearance to other potential rescuers that you'll take care of the victims. From that point on, you can't leave the victims until they're under the care of another qualified health care provider or until the police order you from the scene. In most states, Good Samaritan laws limit your liability for any service you render at an accident or during an emergency. To win a malpractice lawsuit against you, the patient must prove that you intentionally caused his injury or were grossly negligent in your care for him (see Tips for Good Samaritans). However, some discrepancies exist. Some states, most Canadian provinces, and most European countries have taken the Good Samaritan principle a step further by requiring potential rescuers to help a victim. For example, Vermont's law defines a rescuer as any person Vermont resident or not-who knows that another person is exposed to grave danger. As long as the rescuer isn't endangering herself or interfering with important duties of other professional rescuers, she owes assistance to the victim.
Excerpted from Nursing, April 1999

[insenescence1]

I'd like to see a supporting reference regarding the claim that any state requires a health care professional to stop and render assistance at an accident scene.
I can find no such supporting information, Good Samaritan or not.