Woman Who Saved Friend From Car Crash Can Be Sued

Boston (dbTechno) - The California Supreme Court has ruled that a woman who pulled a co-worker from a car crash can be sued for care that is not considered to be medical care. The California Supreme Court made it clear in their ruling that if a rescue is going to be performed, it should always be done by someone who is a trained professional. A young woman, Lisa Torti Northridge, pulled her friend Alexandra Van Horn from a car crash back in October 2004. Van Horn alleged that she was pulled out from the car “like a rag doll.” This forced her to sustain injuries to her back and other areas of the body, leaving her as a paraplegic. The young woman, Torti, is now facing a lawsuit because of her actions.

www.dbtechno.com...

Uhhhh, you can imagine my rant, but then again, if you don't know what you are doing, what can you do?

I am torn apart. Please help me

Originally posted by Deaf Alien


Uhhhh, you can imagine my rant, but then again, if you don't know what you are doing, what can you do?

I could imagine your rant but id rather you just go ahead and post it so we dont assume incorrectly about how you feel on this issue. No offense but id rather not do your rant for you. But I am willing to say something about the subject.


That said,I heard about this the other day, Infact it was a thread on ATS if im not mistaken.

I think its a real shame. It only serves to make people think twice before stopping to render aid.

The lady should be glad that some one was actually kind enough to stop and help. Now days not too many people will take the time to help a stranger. Suing the lady is only going to scare off even more people from being willing to help.

Its a real shame. Would this drunk lady just assume lay there and die? I sure hope not, If so then she has some real issues.

I see not how any good will come from this. People who read this story may very well be more hesitant to help next time. Which is a real shame because in this day and age there are alot of people who need help.

Its just a shame. A real shame:shk:

Dust

[edit on 23-12-2008 by gimme_some_truth]

Oh wow...what a delicate situation this is...allow to tread as softly as I can...

Ok...I was a paramedic and I know alot about the Good Samaritan laws. I would obviously have questions here for the situation...

1. Was the car on fire and was she in immediate danger tha she needed to be moved? If the car was ablaze, no intelligent court should convict her due to the intense mortal danger she was in at that time.

2. Was she conscious? This is the big one because if she was unconscious then it raises the first question again. was the car on fire? If so, yank her out like there is no tomorrow.

3. If she was conscious, did the victim concede to be puled or did she say leave me be?

The thing is the spine is intensely delicate in some situations. If you decide to be a good person and check on a car accident there are some good rules of thumb. If it's a car accident then you need to automatically assume back injury. If you move that person you could make a situation lethal. Now if they are unconscious and breathing I say yank em out and do you CPR. The thing is in most situations, the general public does not know how to act. Even if they do, they usually aren't carrying a neck brace, backboard, and other medics and firefighters with them. There is a reason medics go to school for years, because it is a hard job and you can severely mess someone up. It takes training and time and no, I am sorry, not everyone can do it. Don't take this as ego, there is a reason I was a medic and not a firefighter, I am not strong or frankly brave enough to walk into a freakin fire. Kudos to all those who do. I appreciate you all.

Now as for this case, too little info for any real decision honestly. If she was conscious and in no imminent danger then she should have left her friend alone. If there was imminent danger or CPR was needed then he friend needs to grow up and realize she was dying.

Tough call until the rest of the info is brought out.

-Kyo

Yes, I agree that this is a delicate situation. Which is one of the reason why I held my rant in the first place. It is a difficult judgment call.

I think suing her friend is excessive. Her friend had no intent to do further damage or wasn't aware of dangers. In the article, her friend pulled her out of the car "like a rag doll" which indicate that she was in immediate danger.

I think more education in school is the key. Teach kids and adults the best way to act in emergency situations.

Which may indicate the immediate threat...not always though...she could have acted brashly even though there wasn't an immediate threat...I would love to hear the full story

-Kyo

reply to post by KyoZero


Yes I agree. It may indicate an immediate threat. But we won't know until we get the full story.

It's very difficult in situations like this. That is why education is key. People need to know what to do in emergency situations such as this.

Here is an external for ya

Good Sam Sued

So she says she thought the car was gonna explode. Obviously this is second hand...who know if she is being honest...however...going on this...yeah I would have torn her out of the car without zero thought if I believed the car was gonna explode

-Kyo

Unfortunately this is one of those situations that someone saw to many movies. They thought the car was going to blow up, so they pulled someone out.

I made this mistake too, when I rolled my car I quickly scrambled out thinking it could blow up, Then I was informed better.

Cars rarely, if ever, blow up. The chances are slim. While it is not advertised a lot, we hear a lot not to move accident victims in case their backs are broken.

This person must of panicked, and didn't know what to do.

And if the person would of been fine being left alone, I can kind of see why she would want to sue. Poeple do try to help sometimes when it is unwarranted.

This person may have paralyzed her when there really wasn't any immediate danger.

I really feel that as a part of getting a drivers license, you need to go through major first aid training and cpr. So you can learn that you shouldn't move someone who could possibly have a back injury.

Now if the car had exploded, and I don't think it did. Then no, this person shoud absolutely not be suing.

I will say this. The person suing should be advocating laws be made to train people for emergency situations. If she is just trying to rake in millions from the friends, she is just scum. I coudl see covering medical costs and life as a parapeligic, but not to make money.

And what most people don't know, is that most parapeligics only live on the average of 8 years. Being completely immobile greatly shortens the life span. So essentially, this rescurer also greatly shortened this womans life.

I think Christopher reeves managed to hang on 12 years. only because he was able to afford progressive treatment and the best medical care. he was advocating that all people paralyzed have access to it.

[edit on 24-12-2008 by nixie_nox]

According to the externals I have seen...no explosion

Like Is aid..IF the car was on fire or something...then yeah...a torched dead person is better than a paralysed one...or at least the law believes so...

But people do often act without thinking of the consequences...and this sort of thing can result

-Kyo