Originally Posted by
medic51vrf
You're right. In most places the Good Samaritan law excluedes medical professionals. The Reasonable Man (Person) Doctrine is what applies in most areas and that basically says "What would a reasonable person with your level of experience and training do in the same situation?" You would be held to the same standard. There are also things such as scope of training/qualification and scope of employment that would be looked at.
This is generally true, but the act Prof. Volokh cites reads merely "An individual shall not be liable..." without restricting who the individual is. Contrast California, where HSC 1799.102 lays out slightly different requirements for professionals vs. everyone else, though no one is protected if he's being compensated for helping.
The act also provides that the carrier is not liable if the person helping is "qualified" and not an airline employee, so it's in the airline's best interest to find the doctors, EMTs, etc. on board:
Originally Posted by Congress
(a) LIABILITY OF AIR CARRIERS- An air carrier shall not be liable for damages in any action brought in a Federal or State court arising out of the performance of the air carrier in obtaining or attempting to obtain the assistance of a passenger in an in-flight medical emergency, or out of the acts or omissions of the passenger rendering the assistance, if the passenger is not an employee or agent of the carrier and the carrier in good faith believes that the passenger is a medically qualified individual
...
In this act...(3) the term `medically qualified individual' includes any person who is licensed, certified, or otherwise qualified to provide medical care in a State, including a physician, nurse, physician assistant, paramedic, and emergency medical technician.