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He sees someone in danger unable to help himself; and, at once, without a thought for his own safety, rushes to the rescue, putting himself in peril. He fights to free the victim, who, in their panic, fight against him. Heroics are a risky business, for such actions are undertaken in the heat of the moment when there is no time for reflection; and many who would have saved another have perished in the attempt. For those that succeed, they are lucky to come away with their lives for the little thanks they will receive. Indeed, they should be thankful that they are not sued for their trouble.
He sees someone in danger unable to help himself; and, at once, without a thought for his own safety, rushes to the rescue, putting himself in peril. He fights to free the victim, who, in their panic, fight against him. Heroics are a risky business, for such actions are undertaken in the heat of the moment when there is no time for reflection; and many who would have saved another have perished in the attempt. For those that succeed, they are lucky to come away with their lives for the little thanks they will receive. Indeed, they should be thankful that they are not sued for their trouble.
I would just argue she was paralyzed from the get go or she would have gotten her happy a** out herself from inside the car that could burst into flames (not her fault for thinking that any car that gets slightly tapped on tv burst into a fiery ball of atoms)
Hope this hasn't been posted yet. Pretty pathetic story.
Calif. Court: Would-be Good Samaritan can be sued
LOS 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.
Calif. Court: Would-be Good Samaritan can be sued - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081218/ap_on_re_us/samaritan_protection - broken link)
I find this ruling grotesque. I'm a former EMT and rules were very strict for us because we did have the training and awareness. Ordinary citizens do not possess this information. Ordinary citizens do not possess the strength to carefully extract anyone by themselves without equipment. No one has C collars or backboards in their trunk. Not many are aware they exist or how to use them. No one can really know when the spinal injury took place for that matter. The victim was unconscious or unable to move before being removed from the car? That's where the argument will focus.
Hollywood putting it in peoples minds that vehicles regularly explode is what made Torti react the way she did. As a juror I wouldn't be able to blame her for her actions which were at their heart good intentions. California and other states would be using resources and preserving spirit of the law wisely if they'd encourage public 1st aid training (available at red cross FYI) and PSA announcements about proper response to emergencies.
I don't expect expertise from Joe public, only that reasonable actions be taken. I believe Torti took reasonable actions. I believe this lawsuit is an emotional response to being rendered paralyzed, which understandably is a huge psychological burden she's wrestling with right now. I hope she comes to her senses prior to this lawsuits court date. Hindsight for Joe public today-- call 911, stay with the patient, ABC's of first aid are airway, breathing, and circulation. Anything else is risky to say the least.
And you won't be. Any court would find that your actions, it the car was burning, were prudent given the situation. Same if the victim is thrown into a lane of traffic on a freeway- it is reasonable and prudent to move such a person to an area of safety and you need not worry about a lawsuit in that situation. It won't happen.
There are times when even the trained have to make a decision- if an accident victim is not breathing, you may have to risk aggravating a neck or back injury to tilt the head back and open a breathing passage or give CPR. Again a court would certainly find this to be reasonable.
But to just jerk somebody out of a car- even if they are hurt and even if the car is smoking- but not actually on fire- is not reasonable.
I would put forth to you another scenario that happened on the sunrise highway in suffolk county Long Island NY where a fuel tanker brake failure caused a multi car pileup accident, a fire, AND people trapped in their cars for lack of glass breaking objects from onlookers scrambling before police could arrive are permanently haunted by memories of watching a woman burn alive in her car as the fuel spread on the highway.
People do what they can and even professionals know there is a point of no return where any effect at rescue will only result in higher casualty rates. Firemen and Police face these tough calls every day in America. The average Joe really doesn't know that, nor is it practical to force every citizen in our country to have baseline knowledge of rescue techniques. The more distal people are from medical/ rescue knowledge the more latitude in the law in terms of forbearance should occur. We forgive malpractice cases on the same basis of reasonable and customary, why should it not apply to citizens?
I did not read in this story at what point a phone call was made but that's the first step. 911 dispatchers could have guided her behavior best if that phone call were made first just so everyone knows. I would hope this doesn't stop anyone from helping a victim if it's in their power to do so.
Would this be a situation where an unqualified samaritan were attempting a tracheotomy on a choking victim because they saw it on TV it would be much different. I don't think you've been fair to those without knowledge.
Along with being paralyzed I'm sure the hospital bills also came to match.
Good point because when insurance fails this is what disabled people are forced to resort to in case you haven't realized it yet. This is a shell game of costs shuffling from lack of health care mgmt landing in the courts.
I understand the criticisms of universal health care but since I've already been taxed by republicans at socialist levels, I better be getting at least socialist level care. My last insurance premiums paid were $600 change a month for single coverage and a policy so limited with 5 layers of copays makes it less practical to bother carrying. Some folks it leaves them entirely out of the loop. More than half of bankruptcies declared are currently due to medical disability in families. Health care costs out of control, foot dragging by disability offices, financial institutions burdened by the gaming, insurance policies adding clauses excluding more and more while premiums skyrocket... we need to clean it all up for real.
The true tragedy here is not that the woman was paralyzed, although it is tragic (I don't see where it says to what extent) many people live healthy, productive lives without out full use of all their limbs, but that this type of lawsuit puts another barrier up for those citizens who actually care about other people and are acting in good conscience at a time of crisis. Would Van Horn still have sued had the car exploded, or caught fire, if Torti hadn't pulled her from the car based upon Torti's inaction to save Van Horn? seems ridiculous, but based upon this ruling, not so far fetched.
An earlier post said that they would rather die than lose the use of 2 limbs; I would say that when I was younger I would have agreed. But as I grow older, now 40, and have 2 young sons and a lovely wife, I would gladly give up the used of legs or arms (short of complete physical paralysis that wouldn't allow me to interact with them) to see my sons grow up and tell my wife and boys I love them on a daily basis.
My father was pulled from a bad car accident by an unknown samaritan; there was no paralysis, thankfully, but a month or so of hospitalization and rehab and about 5 years to return to his pre-crash self. I don't know that the car would have caught fire, I believe the smoke was simply battery acid eating through plastic, but my dad nearly cried, while remembering the accident, at the thought that someone would risk personal injury to pull him from the car and leave without expecting any kind of payment or thanks.
I can only hope that should I ever end up in a situation where I am injured in an accident, and a passerby feels the situation necessitates yanking me from my vehicle, that they would act reasonably, based upon their information they have at the time, that they would do so rather than leave me because they are worried I may sue them for additional injuries.
I know I regularly second guess coming to the aid of other simply for this reason, and it makes me sad that I have to worry about being sued when my only goal is to come to the aid of someone in distress.
Wait a minute, if Van Horn was unconscious at the time that she was pulled out, how did you know she was pulled out "like a rag doll" by her friend? Witnesses? Were the witnesses attempting to help or did they throw Torti under the bus? Regardless, I would never sue my friend for saving my life. But then again, I know just enough that if I were in the reverse situation, I would most likely not attempt to move them if they weren't in imminent danger because as we're all taught, you never know what type of injury they have, best to leave it to the professionals.
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