Couple of things here.

While some states do have a "Good Samaritan" law, this only, at BEST protects those who render services in good faith from being successfully sued.

It does not prevent some butthead attorney/client from suing one...as I understand it from relatives in the health care business. In other words, one would still have to hire an attorney and take time from one's work to present this defense in a court of law.

At which point, hopefully, the lawsuit would be dismissed. BUT, one would still be out the time and money from going to court to present this defense. And one would not be able to recoup the the costs of this from the butthead bringing the charges, or their lawyer either.

Admittedly, this is only what I have heard, so I do not present it as fact. But if true, the care giver is already at high risk no matter what. People are so ungrateful, and so quick to sue for megabucks, who can blame any one for not wanting to subject themselves, their families, and their livelihoods to this nonsense?

Perhaps some attorneys in the medical field have better info on the ins and outs of the "Good Samaritan" law?

When we were on a flight from LHR to LAX, a young child passed out waiting for the bathroom. A call went out for medical personnel to please respond and bring your medical license. My husband went and so did 4 other people. It took my husband a minute to realize that the other "professionals" did not know what they were doing. The flight attendants were listening to them though. My husband took his medical license, put it in front of the group around the child and said that if anyone else had one, fine, otherwise lay the child flat and he needed to take over. No one else had a medical license. Is that scary or what? We never did find out what in the world the rest of them thought when they got up to respond. When the co-pilot came back to tell my husband that they were diverting to Salt Lake, my husband told them he was double board ceritifed in emergency medicine and pediatric emergency medicine and that no need to divert, it was okay to go on and just have the paramedics meet us at the airport. The co-pilot saluted him, smiled and said good enough for him and on we went to LA. I did worry for about a year that someone would sue just because they could try. Never, never would anyone charge. We didn't even know the passengers name.

I'm a licensed physician, but not a practicing one (I design research trials), so I don't jump up instantly at the first call for "is there a doctor on board" because I look for someone more qualified than I am to step in, but if I dont see any movement, I have nonetheless often responded to calls for medical help, and once (only) got a bottle of wine and a nice card from the Captain. And I wouldn't have thought that I was doing it to "help out the airline", but rather to help another person. To think that I should have been "compensated" for doing what I am trained to do on behalf of another human being in need is preposterous. I do it because I can (and since I can, I must). How could any physician stand by and watch someone in real need, and not do something about it?

P.S. Was your relative and his family flying in C to begin with, or did he think that this was a good way to get an Op/Up from coach?

(I'll get down from my soapbox now)




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It is exceedingly unlikely that the provider would ever have to appear in court, as the case would be dismissed on motion very soon after it was filed. And, again, this scenario presupposes that some lawyer would be stupid enough to waste his/her time and money pursuing such a case, with its attendant risk of court-imposed sanctions for filing a frivolous action AND the risk of being sued by his/her clients for exposing them to a judgment for the defense costs (to say nothing of the fact that his/her fee will be zero).

It isn't a difficult or esoteric issue. In the context of our discussion, a Good Samaritan would be any medical care professional who volunteers to help someone in need of emergency medical care without being under any duty to care for the patient and without any expectation of compensation. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have enacted Good Samaritan statutes. Although they may vary somewhat in minor details, these laws typically shield a person who provides emergency assistance from civil liability as long as that person was not grossly negligent in providing the emergency care and delivered the care in good faith.

I used the term "urban mythology" seriously, as I believe that's what we're dealing with in this discussion. Health care professionals may fear being sued for doing a good deed for a sick or injured passenger, but I'm confident that their fears are not founded on facts.

I challenge anyone to provide even one single verifiable example of a "good samaritan" health care provider being sued for actions taken in good faith during an in-flight emergency. Give us the case name, city/state, dates, etc. I'll be very surprised if even a single such example proves to be true.

Kman...regardless of your medical emergency response or lack of same, it would be comforting to know you were on one of my flights!
Thanks for your commentary above.

Yes, PIT-PHX. Gentleman was experiencing symptoms of a heart attack. There was a doctor on board who kept in touch with the pilots and kept them updated on his condition. Finally, the doctor advised that we divert to Wichita and get him to a hospital, which the pilots did.

As noted in a recent thread, I just flew back to HNL from SYD on Hawaiian Airlines, and 3 hours out of HNL, the FA, who knew me, ran up and asked if I would look at this pax. I got up, followed him back, and there were 3 men leaning over the pax, each told the FA they were doctors. As soon as I got to the recumbant pax, I introduced myself to them, and asked who they were. One by one they disappeared into the background, and I was left with a gentleman from AUS who indeed was a "Volunteer Ambulance Advanced Life Support" accredited. The both of us took care of the patient, asked for the First Aid Kit.......one that was deplorably lacking in everything!......and the O2 tank. Made him as comfortable as possible, and put the DeFib on the seat in front of us....just in case. The patient was decidedly cardiac impaired, but with only rudimentary things to work with, I was just hoping we could keep him alive for the next 3 hours! Because there is NO alternate landing site other than HNL, those hours were going to seem very long.

The Captain called for me to come up to the cockpit, and I was seated on the jump seat in back of the Second Officer. I briefed him, and he assured me he had the 767 in high gear, and then I spoke with Medicom in HNL to brief them. They would have an ambulance ready, and someone would board as soon as we landed. I asked the Capt. if he could get an emergency "straight in" landing privilege, of which was immediately given.

Amazingly, the hours went fast, and the straight-in approach was probably the worst thing for the patient, as we descended with such speed, I was surprised all the masks didn't deploy! Reached the gate in rapid order, and the airport nurse blasted thru the jetway and back to the patient. I briefed her quickly as she planted the EKG leads on the patient, and we looked at the strip as it unfolded the dynamics of wayward heart.

I am ever so thankful to the AUS gentlemen for being there with his knowledge of Life Support, and the crew who were so helpful in getting enough room to work around the patient ,and the other pax for their kindness in supplying pillows to keep the patient semi-sitting. The pax made it, and was in good hands when I signed off to the Paramedics. Unfortunately, due to the new privacy regulations, the hospital could not give me any information as to the condition of the pax.

As an aside, never once did it enter my mind that I could be sued....the Good Samaritan Law basically states, in all it's simplicity, that: Do all that has been learned; nothing less nor nothing more.

Not at all.

For the benefit of those who don't know how the legal system works, you find out how much someone is insured for (say $10m) and then sue them for $20m, even though it seems ridiculous. but it gets their attention.

You then say "how much for me to settle and go away". They say "Nothing", so you then say "See you in court then".

The poor defendant is faced with all the loss of their time preparing the case, bad publicity, etc. So the offer of say $50,000 to go away starts to look attractive.

$25k for the claimant and $25k for the lawyer. No case in court. That's how lawyers get paid without winning, in fact without even starting. Being lawyers they know how to avoid getting done for blackmail as a result of all this.

Some time ago flying LON->SEA (can't remember which airports or if there was a layover) there was an emergency. Three doctors responded to the request for treatment, they tended to the lady who was sick and then they disappeared back into the throng.

On Monday (Labor Day), my DL MEX-ATL flight returned to MEX after ~40 minutes in the air due to a 6-month pregnant lady vomiting with shortness of breath and chest pains. She was sitting in the 2nd row of Y with her young daughter. The plane turned around about 10 minutes before the pilot made the announcement.

The FAs made a call for a doctor soon after departure, and one man assisted. He gave her a sedative of some sort.

I would much rather get to a US hospital than return to a MEX hospital, especially considering the woman was a resident of ATL. Her husband was still in MEX, though.

All of the FAs presented the doctor a bottle of wine and said that, "DL would send something".

After about 30 minutes of refueling, completing paperwork, and refilling the first-aid kit, we took off again and were only 3 hours late.

I flew from LAX to SJC in November 2001 on Southwest and someone a few rows ahead of me was having heart problems. They asked for doctors, nurses or EMTs and two ladies came forward. They moved the other two passengers out of the row and laid the man across the three seats. We were about halfway to SJC and one of the flight attendants was on the phone with someone. It seemed like the pilot hit the power and we raced to SJC. When we landed, we were met by airport police, several ambulances and paramedics.

Nice expression of compassion... I really hate it when I am in the window seat and the person in the middle dies. It really inconveniences me when I leave the plane.

During an in-flight emergency? There probably isn't one, given the relatively small numbers of in-flight emergencys. There certainly are cases of Good Samaritans being sued for actions undertaken in good faith elsewhere, and every health care provider I know is cognizant of that. Even if the case is summarily dismissed there are still costs for the defendant that can't be recouped, and many aren't willing to take that risk.

Sorry, that's more mythology, WHBM. The kind of "nuisance settlement" you describe is scarce to the point of nonexistence in the medical malpractice insurance field, where most of the liability insurance companies are physician-owned. Defendant physicians have absolute veto power over any settlement (they're called "consent policies").

In fact, just the opposite of the scenario you describe is much more prevalent: the malpractice insurance companies frequently spend $500K in out-of-pocket costs to defend an arguably meritorious case that could have been settled early for $200K without that large costs expenditure -- only to settle it for $350K on the eve of trial, for a total outlay of $850K. Meanwhile, the out-of-pocket costs advanced by the plaintiff's attorney to get the case prepared for trial (I do not mean attorney fees or overhead) have whittled the plaintiff's ultimate net recovery to $100K or less. Everyone "loses" except the defense lawyers, who get paid at every step of the way (like taxicab drivers, the farther they drive the higher the fee).

In contrast, the plaintiff's (patient's) lawyer took the risk of losing the $250K he/she advanced to prepare the case, which is a huge risk when you consider that over 75% of cases that go to trial are won by the defense. And, I say again, the plaintiff's lawyer only gets paid and only gets his/her expenses reimbursed if and when the plaintiff prevails at trial or by settlement.

The insurance companies' long-range global strategy is to make any "victories" by patients as bitter as possible, and thereby to discourage plaintiff's attorneys from pursuing future medical malpractice cases. And it is working: the numbers of malpractice claims filed has been dropping, insurers' inflation-adjusted payouts are dropping, and lawmakers are swallowing the big lie of "tort reform" (which does not reduce doctors' insurance premiums and will not solve the very real crisis in excalating insurance costs). Predictably, plaintiff's attorneys are coming to the realization that they can make more money with far less risk by pursuing other meritorious cases besides medical malpractice claims.

I suspect, cj001f, that you actually DID understand what I meant but chose to feign otherwise to make your point.

So, for clarity:

My challenge is for anyone to provide a verifiable example of any "Good Samaritan" health care provider (a physician, nurse, EMT, etc., who was not already responsible for the patient's care) being sued on the basis of allegedly negligent care provided in good faith to a sick airline passenger in-flight.

And please, do tell us more about those non-airline-related "cases of Good Samaritans being sued for actions undertaken in good faith." Can you (or anyone else) actually provide any verifiable facts to support that contention?

I'm a staunch advocate for evidence-based analysis, so I have trouble with the notion that just because "everybody knows" something it must be true.