Reply To: Nurse Refused To Initiate CPR, What Is Your Opinion?

Home Forums Decaffeinated Coffee Nurse Refused To Initiate CPR, What Is Your Opinion? Reply To: Nurse Refused To Initiate CPR, What Is Your Opinion?

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daniela
Participant

“Good Samaritan” laws do not refer to people performing CPR or other emergency measures as part of their job, there are other laws that regulate that, they have to do with passers-by and with immediate life danger situations. They usually also protect medical professionals who assist while off-duty and without expectance of compensation, but I can’t recall California cases that went to court (I recall one in Texas with a doctor assisting in childbirth and being sued for negligency, he won the case)


California Health and Safety Code Section 1799.102

Legal Research Home > California Laws > Health and Safety Code > California Health and Safety Code Section 1799.102

1799.102. (a) No person who in good faith, and not for

compensation, renders emergency medical or nonmedical care at the

scene of an emergency shall be liable for any civil damages resulting

from any act or omission. The scene of an emergency shall not

include emergency departments and other places where medical care is

usually offered. This subdivision applies only to the medical, law

enforcement, and emergency personnel specified in this chapter.

(b) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage other

individuals to volunteer, without compensation, to assist others in

need during an emergency, while ensuring that those volunteers who

provide care or assistance act responsibly.

(2) Except for those persons specified in subdivision (a), no

person who in good faith, and not for compensation, renders emergency

medical or nonmedical care or assistance at the scene of an

emergency shall be liable for civil damages resulting from any act or

omission other than an act or omission constituting gross negligence

or willful or wanton misconduct. The scene of an emergency shall not

include emergency departments and other places where medical care is

usually offered. This subdivision shall not be construed to alter

existing protections from liability for licensed medical or other

personnel specified in subdivision (a) or any other law.

(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to change any

existing legal duties or obligations, nor does anything in this

section in any way affect the provisions in Section 1714.5 of the

Civil Code, as proposed to be amended by Senate Bill 39 of the

2009-10 Regular Session of the Legislature.

(d) The amendments to this section made by the act adding

subdivisions (b) and (c) shall apply exclusively to any legal action

filed on or after the effective date of that act.