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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1982

Some thoughts on the constitutionality of good samaritan statutes.

Good samaritan laws provide legal immunity to persons who assist in medical emergencies. Because good samaritan laws eliminate the common law right of victims to secure redress for their injuries, these statutes raise certain constitutional questions. The Article begins by examining the vulnerability of good samaritan statutes to federal constitutional attack on substantive due process and equal protection grounds. It then considers the susceptibility of such laws to state constitutional attack on the same grounds. The Article concludes that while such statutes are not likely to violate federal substantive due process and equal protection provisions, they may be held unconstitutional on similar state grounds.

Emergency Medical Services↗
PubMed1999

Good Samaritan acts.

Good Samaritan Acts are those in which aid is rendered to a needy victim of injury or sudden illness. No antecedent relationship exists with the good samaritan, and no remuneration is anticipated. Emergency physicians have an ethical obligation beyond that of other citizens to provide aid in such situations of medical need; professional and legal standards support that obligation.

Codes of Ethics↗
PubMedDate not supplied

'Excellence' begets awareness. Long Island's Good Samaritan Hospital stresses areas of expertise.

Good samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, N.Y. has created a solid reputation as a community hospital noted for its compassionate care, especially as it relates to mother/baby wellness. But, in the increasingly competitive health care world, it's necessary to aggressively market services. Good Samaritan in the last decade built "institutes of excellence" as is telling the community about them in a coordinated multiplicity of strategies using nearly every facet of marketing communications and advertising.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Ghosts from Samaria: Good Samaritan laws in the hospital.

Each state has one or more statutes that collectively can be termed "Good Samaritan" laws. Such laws purport to protect physicians and others who volunteer assistance during emergencies. The application of Good Samaritan laws to physicians within a hospital is uncertain and varies from state to state and case to case. No sure way exists to predict whether Good Samaritan laws will protect physicians assisting patients in apparent emergencies. Physicians should not act in reliance on such laws but rather on personal considerations when they volunteer during emergencies. An Illinois case in which a Good Samaritan law was successfully used as a defense illustrates the many variables that make predictions about such laws doubtful.

Emergencies↗
PubMed1994

The good Samaritan and scarce medical resources.

The story of the good Samaritan is familiar to Christians as a model of caring compassion. Yet the story seems merely quaint and out of place in the context of modern health care, especially when we consider the problem of scarcity and the allocation of limited resources. Allen D. Verhey suggests specific ways in which the story of the good Samaritan can and must continue to shape Christian response when we consider the issue of limited access to health care, limited economic resources, and limited medical commodities.

Christianity↗
PubMed1980

Good Samaritan laws: do state statutes protect your EMS staff?

Most state Good Samaritan laws are vague on the question of whether or not Good Samaritan immunities apply to emergencies that occur within a hospital or other medical facility. In general, such laws are broadly interpreted by state courts because their purpose is to encourage medical professionals to respond in emergencies. However, some state laws may need to be updated to meet the conditions of modern emergency medical care systems.

Emergency Medical Services↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Focus on: Good Samaritan Hospital Biomedical Services Department.

The Biomedical Services Department of the Good Samaritan Hospital, located in Central Pennsylvania, has responsibility for preventive maintenance, safety and regulation compliance (appropriate to a biomedical department) and repairs for the Hospital. These services have resulted in substantial cost savings. In addition, the Department's Shared Service activity has produced alternative revenue sources. The combined hospital and shared service inventory of approximately 1100 instruments is serviced by the Department Staff, which consists of one Director and two technicians.

Biomedical Engineering↗
PubMed1999

Nursing practice: compassionate deception and the Good Samaritan.

This article reviews the literature on deception to illuminate the phenomenon as a background for an appraisal within nursing. It then describes nursing as a practice of caring. The character of the Good Samaritan is recommended as indicative of the virtue of compassion that ought to underpin caring in nursing practice. Finally, the article concludes that a caring nurse, responding virtuously, acts by being compassionate, for a time recognizing the prima facie nature of the rules or principles of truth telling.

Altruism↗
PubMed2006

To assist or not to assist: the legal liability of midwives acting as good Samaritans.

At common law no legal duty exists to rescue. This article examines the common law position and whether NSW case of Lowns v Woods 1996 ATR 81-376 creates a new duty to rescue. Recent legislation in some states provides protection from litigation to those who assist in emergencies providing they act in good faith and without gross negligence. The implications for midwives who act as good Samaritans are discussed.

Australia↗
PubMed1983

[The myth of the good samaritan in psychiatry--thoughts prompted by a controversy].

This article reflects on psychotherapeutic and sociotherapeutic components contained in clinical psychiatric work, seen under the aspect of coping with resistance and hostility experienced by the psychiatrist during his work both from his environment and his patients. Any self-aggrandisement on the part of the therapist, if he begins to identify himself with the image of the Good Samaritan, is nothing but a counter-reaction to the reaction of the environment, and any such counter-reaction must necessarily and finally result in an anti-therapeutic effect. The article discusses the necessary mixture of being distant on the one hand, and closely sympathetic on the other; of being either part of the patient's own madness and/or remaining aloof from it; of finding a synthesis between the psychiatrist's existence as a person and as a professional worker; and, last but not least, of avoiding one-sided favouring of "nearness" and of imagining that there is such a thing as "ideal therapeutic communion". In short, the author suggests that the psychiatrist should not behave like an actor on a stage who has been asked to play a part that has been cast for him. The idea of opposition to therapy requires an antithesis, namely, that of the "Anti-Samaritan".

Career Choice↗
PubMed1994

Good Samaritans or Reticent Bystanders?

Travel medicine can be seen to encompass two aspects. The first, the medical care of travelers, is the most obvious and addressed in the travel medicine literature most often. However, the second, medical care given by doctors while traveling, represents an often exciting, but challenging, experience, with altruistic, ethical, and medicolegal implications. This study examines the experiences and dilemmas of traveling doctors confronted with situations that require professional action. A questionnaire was sent to 702 members of the International Society of Travel Medicine, of which 445 members were in North America and 257 were in other continents. Respondents were asked specific questions concerning the types of assistance they would be willing to provide, whether they carried additional medical supplies, their reluctance to become involved in certain situations, and examples of experiences that they had while traveling. Of the questionnaires sent, 261 (37%) were returned. Of those responding, 72% indicated that they had rendered samaritan assistance in the past, and the vast majority would be willing to provide medical assistance if no other resources were available. Generally, two themes shaped the distribution of answers provided: the distance from, or accessibility to, existing health care facilities and familiarity with the type of patients and health care practices. Doctors with a particular interest in travel medicine are, generally, Good Samaritans and will provide care for urgent and emergent medical problems both to fellow travelers as well as to indigenous people. Except for a small minority who refuse to become involved, doctors' decisions to offer assistance are shaped by the specific circumstances of situations with which they may be faced.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

Protection of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase-transduced cells from ganciclovir-mediated cytotoxicity by bystander cells: the Good Samaritan effect.

Although considerable attention has been directed in the field of gene therapy toward elucidating the mechanism by which a transduced cell could kill a bystander cell, little is known about how bystander cells may affect transduced cells. We hypothesized that bystander cells, particularly if they were capable of gap junctional communication, could protect cells transduced with the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) from ganciclovir (GCV)-induced cytotoxicity. To test this hypothesis, we used a rat hepatocyte cell line (WB) that can carry out efficient gap junctional communication, a WB clone transduced with HSV-TK (WB-TK), and a communication-incompetent subclone of WB cells (aB1). We cocultured WB-TK cells with either WB or aB1 cells, treated them with GCV, and then plated the cells into selective media that permitted us to quantify independently the surviving fraction of WB-TK cells or bystander cells. We found that WB bystander cells conferred up to a 1000-fold protection on WB-TK cells treated with GCV. aB1 cells conferred detectable, but significantly less, protection. These findings demonstrate that herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase-transduced cells can be significantly protected by bystander cells, particularly those that can carry out gap junctional communication. Whether this "Good Samaritan" effect improves the overall efficacy of gene therapy, by prolonging the survival of the source of toxic metabolites, or decreases effectiveness by increasing the survival of transduced cells will need to be determined in vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Good Samaritan surgeon wrongly accused of contributing to President Lincoln's death: an experimental study of the President's fatal wound.

BACKGROUND: When President Abraham Lincoln was shot in the back of the head at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865, he was immediately rendered unconscious and apneic. Doctor Charles A. Leale, an Army surgeon, who had special training in the care of brain injuries, rushed to Lincoln's assistance. When Doctor Leale probed the wound in Lincoln's thickened scalp, feeling for the bullet, he dislodged a blood clot, and Lincoln began to breathe again. However, Lincoln progressively deteriorated and died at 7:22 AM on April 15, 1865. During the postmortem examination of Lincoln's body, numerous secondary missiles of bone and metal were found in the track of pultaceous brain tissue, extending completely through the brain to the front of the skull. In February 1995, an article in a popular magazine alleged that Doctor Leale had caused further (fatal) damage to Lincoln's brain by thrusting his finger into the brain through the bullet hole. The article alleged (wrongly) that most bullet wounds of the brain incurred in Civil War times were not fatal. STUDY DESIGN: The following study demonstrates that it is impossible to introduce even the tip of the little finger through a hole in the skull resulting from a .41-caliber bullet fired from a derringer. In our study, a .41-caliber derringer was used to fire bullets into numerous fresh skulls; the bullet holes all had razor-sharp edges and were much too small to accommodate a fingertip. RESULTS: Thus, the allegation that President Lincoln's brain was damaged further because Doctor Leale thrust his finger through the bullet hole into the brain parenchyma is not valid. In this study, experimental data are presented to demonstrate the foregoing point. CONCLUSIONS: The wound made by John Wilkes Booth's derringer ball in Lincoln's brain was devastating; it was clearly the cause of his death. Good Samaritan surgeon Leale has been falsely accused of contributing to Lincoln's death.

Brain Injuries↗