Harming Those Who Help

Many medical professionals have malpractice insurance that won't cover them if they try to be good samaritans...like being first to stop at the scene of an accident and render emergency care. The risk is too great of being sued by ingrateful opportunists who expect medical perfection on the side of a road, cliff, wherever. Insurers often instruct the folks they cover not to respond to emergencies when off duty, a situation no one (but a few greedy lawyers and victims) are the better for.

This is not to say that victims damaged through grotesque error shouldn't have recourse. But put a slick lawyer and gullible jury together, and medical perfection sometimes isn't enough.

Today, the R-G takes-on this subject in an interesting editorial about emergency responders risking life and limb, then being sued when the victim didn't make it.

Three years ago, 15-year-old Elijah Keller of Redmond slipped and fell while climbing a cliff face on the rim of the 300-foot-deep Crooked River Canyon. Keller plummeted 25 feet before landing on a four-foot-wide ledge that kept him from plunging all the way to the base of the gorge.

He was badly hurt in the fall, but was conscious when volunteers from the Crooked River Ranch Rural Fire Protection District arrived on the scene. Rescuers rigged ropes and rappelled down the cliff face to reach Keller, using chain saws to clear a path through the thick sagebrush.

Twenty minutes after getting to him, paramedics had Keller loaded into a rescue basket and began to hoist him, still conscious, on ropes out of the canyon. Once Keller was safely off the ledge, he was flown by helicopter to a Bend hospital.

But less than 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital, Keller died from critical head and internal injuries. His parents, Michael and Patricia Keller, believe the rescuers did not properly secure their son to the basket before attempting to remove him from the ledge.

They allege in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Portland that Elijah's "head fell sharply down to his chest during the lift up to the side of the cliff." The Kellers are suing the people who tried to save their son for $9.5 million.

If his head fell sharply down to his chest, that certainly could have aggravated a neck injury or some types of head injuries. Whether it did or not will become a trial by expert witnesses that each side pays for. It's our legal system being dependent upon the rent-an-opinion industry. As for the critical internal injuries, his head adversely impacted them how?

Where exactly is a rural fire protection district supposed to find $9.5 million? Is Crook County supposed to pay...or the rural residents who pay for annual fire coverage? I guess whenever a 15-year-old wants to climb a cliff face, a county has some potential liability for an accident the kid suffers? Maybe the radical environmentalists are right...we need to keep people away from nature, but for the sake or our pocketbooks.

I'd hate to think that the local rural metro that provides fire protection for my house--as well as where the Greenpeace folks have their forest rescue station, could be liable if one of those tree sitters takes a fall, then sues if the emergency medical care isn't perfect...or even if it is.

Attorney Robert Lowry, who is representing the Crooked River Ranch Rural Fire Protection District and the rescue workers named in the suit, said those who responded did everything they could. It is hard to imagine otherwise.

What must it have been like, hanging on ropes, wrestling with chain saws, fighting fear on the edge of a chasm? A boy is badly injured, and these volunteers and emergency medical technicians know that precious time is ticking away. Even so, they cannot be too hasty; enormous caution is required to keep this dangerous cliffside rescue from claiming additional casualties.

It is equally hard to imagine the heartache and grief the Kellers have endured, made agonizingly worse by their belief that the people who struggled to save their son may have, instead, made mistakes that contributed to his death.

I'm sure I can't truly imagine the grief the Kellers are suffering...I've never had a child die. What sense of responsibility do they feel their son had for this tragedy, climbing up a cliff in a remote area? Are the parents genuinely of the belief that their son would have lived if the rescue had gone differently, or are they suffering a form of denial? Can't tell from this distance.

But even if that turns out to be true, something else that's terribly important may be hanging, like Elijah Keller's rescue basket, perilously in the balance here. Rural communities depend on the no-questions-asked courage and compassion of thousands of men and women serving without pay as firefighters, EMTs and search and rescue volunteers.

If these volunteers and professional first responders keep getting signals that mistakes, no matter how they happen, carry a punishing multimillion-dollar liability, we invite two equally undesirable possibilities:

First, there will be an unavoidable tendency to delay, review, second guess or overanalyze situations which by their nature are fluid, unpredictable and require snap decision making. While it's likely that additional caution means some mistakes will be avoided, it's also probable that the delay itself will occasionally lead to unforeseen complications.

Second, the only reward volunteers get for racing away from the dinner table to risk their lives at a fire or rescue is the appreciation of their neighbors. Their willingness to face danger for so little is priceless. We must do everything we can to protect our protectors, or face the possibility of having fewer people on hand to answer our 911 calls.

We are very fortunate in this country to have good samaritans in the form for rural fire districts, volunteer EMTs, etc. who will lay their lives on the line and help others because they want to serve, to help. I have a great deal of trouble with the concept of penalizing people who voluntarily help society. I also have a lot of trouble with all the frivilous lawsuits against people like medical professionals who are paid to help society. Some trial lawyers do yeoman's work for society...but far too many of them self-righteous con artists who weaken our legal system.

A few years back, I was driving through the Gorge and happened to stop into Multnomah Falls on a very cold winter day. I hiked up to the arched bridge that crosses the stream in front of the falls, and came upon an accident that had just happened a few moments before.

Despite the fact that mist had covered the bridge with several inches of slick, wet ice, an individual had somehow managed to cross that bridge and climbed up a bit to take a picture. What a reckless action. He'd slipped and fallen, cracking his head on the ice on the other side of the bridge. He was lying there unconscious with blood flowing from his rapidly-swelling head wound. It was far too slick for any sensible individual to try to cross the bridge to help him. His friends knew that EMT was on its way and would be there shortly...and in a couple moments EMT arrived.

The bridge was far too slick for them to cross as well. But, they had brought some rock salt and tossed it on the bridge, and meanwhile they were chipping at the ice to try to get the surface rough enough to be safe to cross. This wasn't fast enough for the unconscious man's friends. They were yelling at the EMT folks to hurry up, cursing them, threatening to sue if they didn't immediately try to cross to help him, etc. Then they noticed my camera. They started yelling at me to take pictures so they could sue. I refused, so they went back to abusing the folks trying to help their friend.

Those individuals are the type of self-centered, lawsuit-happy jackasses who could ruin the situation for the rest of us. We've developed a marvelous system of providing quick, competent emergency service for nearly all Americans. If individuals try to sue them for every error, very few of which have to do with incompentence, recklessness, etc., we'll kill the economic feasibility of this type of service...especially of the volunteer variety.

Then, 15-year-olds who fall down remote cliffs will almost surely die, as will a lot of other folks who could be saved if we would accept the efforts of volunteers, passer-by doctors, etc. with thanks, not lawsuits.

Comments

[Thomas Ng]

I just read your post. I too, find it a horrific site that some individuals will sue at any chance they get all in the name of money and greed.

I know how losing someone feels. Its a horrible feeling, but I am not the type of person that questions a good samaritan that is honestly doing their job correctly. I do not question their ability to perform nor quickly make decisions that can affect the outcome of a situation.

I just wish that everyone can the lighter side of those who help and appreciate the fact they are trying to help, not harm.

[Bubba]

Today marks the one year anniversary of my quad heart bypass. Long story short - I blew out one of the grafts in the recovery room. Blood pressure dropped to 20 systolic / 0 dystolic. So they couldn't re-anesthetize me. Since I was just regaining conciousness, I was privileged to experience emergency open heart surgery while awake.

This is NOT something you want to experience. Trust me.

Words would fail to describe the horror, helplessness, and trauma of the experience.

When I was totally lucid again, the heart surgeon discussed the whole procedure with me. Visibly shaken, he apologized over and over. He said a blowout occurs in something like .5% of lucky patients, but never to one of his before.

And I said something like, "Stuff happens in an unperfect world. Not your fault. And I came out the other side. Nobody is being blamed here, and nobody's getting sued here. Thank you for saving my bacon."

I'm going to sue the guy who saved my life? A few years ago I'm certain that I would have died. I had a heart attack with blockages of 100, 90, 80, and 70 percent in the arteries. And I came out of the whole episode with no heart damage. That's a miracle!

I heard the staff fighting for my life. (Including the all time favorites, "That's not good. That's not right! I don't think he's going to make it! Don't you die, you son-of-a-bitch! Don't you DARE die on me!) And I'm very thankful for all they did. If I'd bled to death right there(Lost 20 units!), no one could have blamed them. But they went the extra mile. Traumatized me. Oh, you bet! It was a nasty, ugly episode that I would just as soon have avoided. But because of their willingness to go the extra mile, I get a few more years with my loved ones. And I'm smart enough to appreciate it.

Had it gone the other way, hope my family would have had the same attitude. I want these folks to have the confidence, the incentive, the determination to give the next poor sap through those doors the very best chance they can at having his few more years.

Sorry for the long post. Topic hits close to home, especially today! My first extra bonus year behind me!

[RoguePundit]

Wow! Great to have you here for a few more years.