Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCat
You're right that if someone is hurt bad enough everyone will be named. If you are named, in Illinois at least, you are covered by a $1,000,000 liability policy. If you are ever named, turn it into the insurance company. They must defend you. You are also right that you would be dismissed out of the case when they figure out what happened….UNLESS you tried to play doctor when your not a doctor and caused harm. It is extremely difficult for a referee to lose a case when he "stays in his lane" as J says. Bad calls cost Johnny scholarship--case tossed out. Bad calls lead to rough play and A1 gets hurt--case tossed out.
When we stay in our lane we won't lose a case unless what we do is damn close to intentionally injuring a person. Providing medical care is not within referee duties--not in our lane. If you do that, do it wrong and player is made worse, you lose even though you were just trying to help.
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This is not a true blanket statement. The general basis of all Good Samaritan Laws is to "offer legal protection to people who give
reasonable [emphasis added] assistance to those who are, or who they believe to be, injured, ill, in peril or otherwise incapacitated." The specifics of these laws vary from state to state.
For example, in Texas (at least during my last first aid/CPR class) we were told you should ask something along the lines of "I have some first aid training, can I try to help?" There are, again at least in Texas, circumstances where permission is implied.
All that said...if it isn't life threatening I am not getting involved. In fact, I am moving to the other side/end of the floor to avoid interaction with a hissed off coach and/or parent. Nothing good comes from those situations.