Introduction EMT has many legal responsibilities Legal obligation to provide care in the same way as other EMTs EMT must be familiar with relevant laws Protection from prosecution • Laws of the Good Samaritan • Encourages medical professionals to help others in public situations • Immunity statuses • Protects health care providers from paying damages for actions performed in the workplace • Best practices • Follows Protocols and uses legal and ethical issues of compassion. 1. Describe and explain legal and ethical issues. 2. Describe policies to avoid prosecution and list methods of protection. We are a community of sharing. Please help us by downloading or downloading 1 new document: 31 © 2005 from Thomson Delmar Learning, part of Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved 31 Common allegations against paramedics Bodily harm – A patient is afraid of being touched without consent Physical assault – The actual act of touching without consent Good Samaritan Act – Legislation to protect you in your spare time when providing care as part of your practice; This is also known as the immunity act. Many situations that first responders may find themselves in are also potential crime scenes. The police understand the priority of emergency medical care.
Emergency Services (EMS) and police objectives may differ at any time while these professionals are on the scene. The differences stem from potentially conflicting responsibilities, and the two services are taking actions that they believe in good faith to be the most important and highest priority at this time. With a good understanding of these differences, patients can be treated properly and quickly, while maintaining the integrity of forensic evidence as much as possible. It is important to understand the responsibilities of EMS personnel and law enforcement agencies when responding to crime scenes. When law enforcement arrives at the scene of a serious crime, they focus on many tasks that need to begin immediately. Your first task is to ensure that threats or risks of damage are mitigated. The immediate task is to prevent further injury or loss of life to the public, police and other emergency services such as firefighters and first responders. Once the scene is secured, an officer can provide assistance to anyone who needs immediate assistance until the medical assistants arrive. Typical first aid for officials is the control of bleeding by direct pressure or, more recently, by the use of tourniquets. Once the crime scene has been secured and first aid has been provided, they must begin to determine the boundaries of the crime scene and usually secure it with duct tape at the crime scene.
Potential witnesses must be identified and secured. Physical evidence must be preserved and left intact to allow for a thorough investigation by other law enforcement agencies that have intervened, such as detectives and evidence technicians. Given these medico-legal responsibilities, requests from police officers should generally be considered if they do not affect a patient`s immediate needs. If the request delays critical medical care or results in a possible deterioration in the patient`s condition, the emergency medical service provider should explain what expedited medical tasks need to be performed and how best to perform those tasks. Cooperate with requests, but defend the interests of the patient. [1] [2] [3] [4] The Legal Responsibilities of an EMT (continued) • Obtaining patient consent (continued) • Prisoners, mentally disturbed persons and consent • Emergency doctrine • Courts may approve certain treatments • Advance planning can prevent future legal problems Unit 3. Legal responsibilities of the EMT. Glimpse. Knowledge of standard care Patients` rights Cooperation with law enforcement authorities Frequent allegations against an EMS Protection from prosecution.
Introduction. EMT has many legal responsibilities Conclusion • Specific legal responsibilities vary from state to state • Counsel`s advice can be invaluable • Paramedics must protect themselves from impending lawsuits • The best protection is good patient care and conscientiousness Common allegations against EMS (continued) • Patient abandonment • Obligation to continue care until discharge • EMT can be responsible for injuries • Assault • Transporting the patient without consent can result in charges of assault, assault and false detention When should an emergency medical service provider treat a location as a crime scene? Emergency medical services professionals must document and observe the scene setting. If the type of escape is designated as a potential crime scene, EMS should always wait for police to arrive at the scene and declare it safe for medical responders. If a paramedic is the first person to arrive and unexpectedly discovers a possible crime scene, they may have significant knowledge of what the crime scene looked like. You need to pay attention to signs of forced entry, body positions, lighting and open doors. Blood and bloodprints can be important evidence in an investigation. Avoid getting into the blood or other fluids as much as possible. Documentation must be free of opinions and state the facts. If the patient is a victim of a crime, it can be very helpful for providers to accurately and accurately document victim impact statements. Use quotation marks to document exactly what the patient says happened. Also, document exactly which witnesses say occurred.
These citations can assist law enforcement agencies in their investigations and possible prosecutions at a later date. Statements that do not seem relevant or important at that time can be very valuable later. Victims of domestic violence can speak freely immediately after the incident and give details about how the injuries occurred and who caused them.
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