Medically Trained- Officials

[drinkeii]

Originally posted by JRutledge
You are assuming that all states have the same laws. You are also assuming that all states have the same interpretation of the laws. And you are also assuming that you will not be sued based on what you consider "good semaritan" laws. Liability has many forms. If you consider it to be your job and you mess up, you can be sued anyway. Do not think just because you are an EMT, it relieves you from responsibility or liability. So if you feel that assisting is what you want to do, go right ahead. And if those schools have to EMT or trainers involved in the contest, that opens them up for liability too. Do what you feel is right, but undertand you are an official on that court or field first. If you were not, you would not be wearing a striped shirt. Anything you choose to do in that striped shirt, that is how you will be judged, whether you have training in a specific field or not. Again, you can take your chances and get sued defending what you feel the law protects. But considering the climate that we are in, I hope you have the funds or the lawyer to protect yourself from being sued. People get sued everyday that have not done anything wrong. This is a free country and you can choose to do what you feel is right. But understand that everyone is not going to agree with you on this. And if a family gets a lawyer because you have "interfered" in their mind with the professionals that were in charge, then that is something you will have to face. The NF tells us in many sports to not take an active role in dealing with injured players or participants. They have made this clear in several sports. Now remember if you choose to ignore that warning, then you are leaving yourself open to further liability. You can be held liabible for not following the rules that are in place. We talk all the time about following rules at this board, this is just one of many. And if you do not follow them, your are doing so at your own risk.

Peace

[Edited by JRutledge on Dec 2nd, 2002 at 02:34 PM]

It's not a question of what I believe are good samaritan laws - they are covered quite in depth in the EMT courses in my area.

As for transportation, yes, that is true, under some circumstances. But there are many times I act as an EMT, and do not actually transport a patient. I have also, in the past, been asked by the EMTs who showed up in the ambulance, to continue to provide care and ride along with them to the hospital. Obviously, if possible, this is something I would decline if I was a sports official, but I have NEVER in my 12 years of being a firefighter had an EMT at the scene ahead of me that I had to ask not to "interfere". I know what training they have, and I know that I can expect them to be able to perform and assist with several specific skills due to their training.

As for being relieved from responsibility or liability, I am not relieved of either in any case. I am protected by the law if I perform up to the standard of care that I have been trained to. If I do not, yes, I am certainly liable for my actions.

As for equipment - I certainly hope in whatever class you obtained your training, you received instruction in "winging it" with whatever happens to be available and suitable for the purpose. Saying that you don't have your handy-dandy jump kit is no excuse for not assisting if needed.

Obviously, if there ARE trainers or EMT/etc present, they would be responsible for patient care, and you can officiate the contest without any problem. However, as I stated earlier, many of the contests I officiate do NOT have these type of people present.

As for a family feeling I interfered, if I do get involved, I identify myself as an EMT when I offer assistance. If I don't happen to be wearing a patch or holding my little EMT card out in the open, this has NO effect on whether or not the Good Samaritan laws (as they apply in whatever state you happen to be in) apply - only that I perform care up to the established standard of care, and no more/no less.

It is a free country. However, if I was told by an association that I was not permitted to assist, I believe the media would have a field day... "Medically Trained official prohibited from assisting with injuries" - sounds like the association opening themselves up to a large amount of liability there. "Why didn't you act?" "Well, because if I did, they wouldn't give me any more games!" - see how a lawyer would like that one...

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by rockyroad
[B][

Really??? sure seems like it to me...I think, based on this thread and the other recent thread about calling violations in blow-out games, that you need to lighten up just a tad...maybe go have a few of those "brown pops" that Dan and JR are always tal;king about...

Yup,Dan and JR-the "chill-out twins".

Dan:


JR:

[rockyroad]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
[B]

Originally posted by rockyroad
[

Sigh...at least JR got the point...sarcasm is so often lost on certain people...

[Jurassic Referee]

Yes,Rocky,JR got your point. I usually do.

[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

[drinkeii]

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

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.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by drinkeii
[/B]

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. [/B][/QUOTE]This case came from one of the Atlantic provinces in Canada,if I remember reading it right.The judge threw the case out-it was a civil case.Court costs were awarded against the parent who put the action in.Looked good on him!It was a nuisance lawsuit,but-like people have been saying in this thread-you never know when one is gonna get thrown at you.

[firedoc]

I ama physician specializing in Emergency Medicine. As a rule I do not tell anyone at a game what I do for a living (with the exception, perhaps, of my partner). If there is an injury of a routine nature, I do not get involved medically. Certainly, if there was a severe injury or medical problem (such as cardiac arrest or significant spinal injury) I would be ethically obliged to get involved. I am an official for 6 years and have not yet had to provide any medical service during a game.

[AK ref SE]

Drinkeii-

"Good Samaritan Law" Even with the Law people still get sued....
Like Rut says, everyone has a right to choose what they want to do... I am giving my opinion on what I would or would not do. I am very familiar with the law in my state and I even deal with federal and International laws. I have also been in a lawsuit where the medical care that I provided was in question.....I did everything by the book, and it was still questioned.....I was doing my job that I had been doing at the time, about 12 years.....Does the job and training that I perform on a daily basis get shut off when I am at work.....Well sometimes it does....because if it did not......A wonderful thing called burn out occurs....So this is my opinion....As an official, I am an official when someone gets hurt on the court or field...If someone is dying well I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

AK ref SE

[Mark Dexter]

Couple of comments from a (hopefully) doctor-to-be.

Officials often get sued or threatened with legal action for "allowing" injuries to occur during a game. Unless the injury is life threatening, I wouldn't get involved - lest I be sued for 2 different things.

Also, I had a tough situation a few weeks back when I hit a player in the head chopping in the clock (I've now switched to the women's NCAA mechanic). Worst part was that she was a friend and fellow official. My first reaction was to see if she was okay, but our assignor told me to just get out of situations like those - you never know how someone will react.