ABC News correspondent Mike von Fremd has the story of a lawsuit that is being allowed to go forward against a woman who thought she was saving her friend’s life. Below are excerpts from a lengthy article by Susan Donaldson James on the ABC News website. It is worth reading the entire article (and for good measure, at the bottom of the article, we have some video of Good Samaritans in action at a road race):
No good deed goes unpunished, or so goes the saying.
Such was the case with Lisa Torti, who is being sued for pulling a now-paralyzed friend from the wreckage of a Los Angeles car accident in 2004.
The victim’s lawyers claim the Good Samaritan bumbled the rescue and caused injury by yanking her friend “like a rag doll” to safety.
But Torti — now a 30-year-old interior designer from Las Vegas — said she thought she had seen smoke and feared the car would explode. She claims she was only trying to help her friend, Alexandra Van Horn, and her own life has been adversely affected by the incident.
“I know [Van Horn] has a lot of financial issues and her life has changed,” she said. “But it’s not my fault. I can’t be angry at her, only the path she has chosen to take. I can only pray it helps her.”
“I don’t have any more fight left,” Torti told ABCNews.com, choking back tears. “It’s really emotional.”
The California Supreme Court ruled this week that Van Horn may sue Torti for allegedly causing her friend’s paralysis. The case — the first of its kind — challenges the state’s liability shield law that protects people who give emergency assistance.
The court ruled 4-3 that only those administering medical care have legal immunity, but not those like Torti, who merely take rescue action. The justices said that the perceived danger to Van Horn in the wrecked car was not “medical.”
The court majority said the 1980 Emergency Medical Service Act, which Torti’s lawyers cited for protection, was intended only to encourage people to learn first aid and use it in emergencies, not to give Good Samaritans blanket immunity when they act negligently.
Van Horn’s lawsuit will go on to trial court to determine if Torti is to blame for Van Horn’s paralysis.
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Most likely there was no reason to move the patient but with every damn car blowing up on TV and in movies no wonder this happened. In my 31 years I have never seen a automobile blow up like Hollywood does. We need to educate the public to leave trauma patients where they are unless the are in obvious danger.
How many times have we gotten to a scene and had patients sitting or lying around on the roadside, put there by Good Samaritans who either did not or could not assess injuries? I had a friend who was in a wheelchair for this same reason. And how many times has a call been dispatched 'smoke coming from the vehicle' that was only broken radiator steam? Cars always catch fire and blow up on tv, therefore they must always do it in real life. More public education is needed.
Boy, I have an opinion on just everything this morning, don't I. Better stop reading Dave and go wrap Christmas presents.
Well after this lawsuit we may not need to educate the public, they may just decide to let the "PROFESSIONALS" handle it and then we won't have to worry about untrain folks saving others life, maybe the train may start to drive or walk off from an accident, who knows
I am appalled at this ruling and almost saddened that the car didn't explode like it does on the movies. If this person's perception had been correct and the car began to burn immediately after the victim was removed…this lay-rescuer would be hailed as a HERO and be on every TV channel from coast to coast. The fact that the victim is a now partially paralyzed would have been looked at as a small price to pay to be alive. Who's to say that the injury wasn't caused by the accident itself? Now, because the car didn't ignite into flames, the person who was being a good human-being (a commodity harder and harder to find these days) is going to be sued, discredited, and shamed? That's outrageous and flies in the face of everything that's taught in school and in health/safety education! The next thing you know, you'll have someone who is revived by CPR sue their lay-rescuer because they broke some ribs in the process.
I think the California Supreme Court should be ashamed of themselves and for the newly paralyzed victim who attacks her friend for helping her… we'll hope the next person turns the other cheek!