Good Samaritan Law, specifically Tennessee

julief

Hardly here
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
309
Reaction score
38
Location
first draft, mid-book
Hello!

I've always had great luck with the knowledgable people on this board, so I thought I'd ask this. (Also, searched twice to be sure it hadn't been answered before).

My character is a good samaritan type who looked through the open door of her neighbor's apartment to see said neighbor on the floor close to death. The character called 911 and performed CPR, which resulted in the neighbor's ribs breaking. The character has CPR and first aid certification and was walked through the process by the 911 operator because it was the first time doing it on a live person. The story is set in Nashville.

Can the neighbor sue the character (by which I mean would a lawyer recommend it)?

I know good samaritan laws should cover the character, but I'm a little iffy on the real legal issues. Also, does the fact that the character entered the home complicate the law stuff?

And what if the neighbor was trying to die?

Thanks and rep points for any help.
 

jclarkdawe

Feeling lucky, Query?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
10,297
Reaction score
3,859
Location
New Hampshire
I'm not sure whether some of the stuff below is intentional or not quite understanding. Death is a process, which results in some confusion as to when death has occurred. Simplest definition is if a person is not breathing and their heart is not beating they are dead. CPR is ONLY indicated when both the person is not breathing and the heart is no longer beating in a viable rhythm. There will be no pulse. So, under the simplest definition, for CPR to occur, the person is dead.

CPR is indicated between the point where the person stops breathing and his heart starts beating and before brain death occurs. With a monitor, you may see that the heart is beating in a weird, unproductive pattern called "fibrillation." The idea behind CPR is to manually pump enough blood (with oxygen) into the brain to keep it alive until either the heart decides to beat on its own, or advanced support changes the situation, or the person is pronounced dead.

Hello!

I've always had great luck with the knowledgable people on this board, so I thought I'd ask this. (Also, searched twice to be sure it hadn't been answered before).

My character is a good samaritan type who looked through the open door of her neighbor's apartment to see said neighbor on the floor close to death. This is a wonderful phrase that is meaningless. The person is collapsed, with no heart beat and not breathing is what I presume you mean. Many people call this "dead." Person is totally unresponsive (cause they're dead.) For an unresponsive person, who cannot consent to medical care, other people can assume that the person would prefer to live, and other people can take appropriate medical actions based on that assumption. The character called 911 and performed CPR, which resulted in the neighbor's ribs breaking. The 9-1-1 operator would only advise CPR if the person was not breathing and there was no heartbeat or pulse. Broken ribs are an acceptable risk of CPR and it's a great feeling when those ribs break and you can start getting some good results on the patient. (Actually it will scare the crap out of you the first time it happens, but CPR does improve in a lot of cases when the ribs break.) The character has CPR and first aid certification and was walked through the process by the 911 operator because it was the first time doing it on a live person. The story is set in Nashville.

Can the neighbor sue the character (by which I mean would a lawyer recommend it)? He can, but I doubt the case would last for long. And I doubt an attorney would recommend it. UNLESS he started doing the CPR while the person was still breathing and had a heartbeat.

I know good samaritan laws should cover the character, but I'm a little iffy on the real legal issues. Also, does the fact that the character entered the home complicate the law stuff? No. Consent would be implied.

And what if the neighbor was trying to die? Doesn't matter.

Thanks and rep points for any help.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

julief

Hardly here
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
309
Reaction score
38
Location
first draft, mid-book
Thank you , Jim

Yes, the character does not detect a heartbeat or breathing prior to beginning CPR. Though I have to take a CPR and first aid class every year to work with children, I have thankfully never been in a situation to use it so thank you for your notes on it. I have been doing research into the experience of giving CPR on a real person (my experience is those armless, legless dummies).