Quote:
Originally posted by JRutledge
drinkeii,
Do what you feel is right. But just like there are people here disagreeing with you here, you might run into someone who feels you "interfered" with their child. I am not a lawyer, but if I am not mistaken Good Samaritian laws protect people from being criminally responsible for helping people. I am not aware that it civililly takes away responsibility if you do something wrong. Even if you help a kid that life is not in danger, you could be held responsible for actions that might have put in jeapordy the child being able to walk or run properly. I am sure you are very qualified in what you do, but if neglagence is ruled, you could be held responsible for paying a family money for lost wages of a prospective pro ball player. Even thought it is not in America, but a father did sue a Hockey Board for not providing his son an award. And in the suit, the father claimed that his son not receiving the Most Outstanding Player Award, killed the desire for the kid to ever play hockey again. And this was in the thoughts of this kid being a pro player one day. Now this might not be directly related, but it sure could be an issue if you are accused of being neglagant in any way in the role of an official. Again, this world is full of choices. I just do not want to read about an official being sued for something like this as an official. Referee Magazine all the time talks about incidents where officials are sued for things they may or may not have done. You have a right to your opinion, but so does the rest of us.
Peace
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Good Samaritan laws apply to anyone acting in the aid of others, specifically in this case in a medical situation. They do not absolve anyone of liability or responsibility - they only protect you if you perform what a reasonable person would do under the same circumstances, or if the person is trained, what a similarly trained person would be expected to do. This also includes that "standard of care" I referred to before - if you do what you were trained to do, and only what you were trained to do, you are covered. Your post, along with several others, seems to indicate that I am going to do something wrong, or do something which I am not trained to do, etc. Accidents and mistakes happen, but no more than if i was in a uniform acting in an official capacity. The only difference between that and being Joe Public wandering around, or acting as a game official, etc, is that I do not have a legal "duty to act" in most cases. I do, however, feel a duty to act in that if there is no one else qualified around, I have a conscience, and it says "you have the training, help if needed."
I would be curious to know the outcome of that lawsuit regarding the player not receiving an award. I would find it really hard to believe that they would find for the father in this case. Sounds like a bunch of whining to me.