Medical Training for Laypersons

[SeriousStudent]

I'm doing MFR at the ARC this month. I see it as a stable foundation on which to build more specific skills related to my particular needs.

Mr. Green, do you incorporate some of the legal implications of rendering first aid into the training you deliver?

I have not yet had an opportunity to train with you, and hope to someday remedy that. But I am curious what a person with your legal background, as well as firearms skills, would remind their students to consider.

Thanks very much, and I apologize if I have drifted the thread far off course. I know that the legal landscape has changed a tad since I was involved in medicine back in the late Pleistocene epoch.

[ToddG]

I don't give legal advice, especially when I'm teaching. IMO, the folks who taught your first-aid/MFR/EMT class should have covered that.

[SeriousStudent]

Thank you, I appreciate the speedy reply.

Have a safe and happy weekend.

[FMF_Doc]

Here is my take on staying out of legal trouble.....

Do not perform skills beyond your level of certification, and only do what is necessary to stabilize the situation until professional rescuers can respond.

You have to be able to justify your actions and articulate the need to perform any act.

[ToddG]

I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that SeriousStudent was asking specifically about rendering aid to someone after you have shot him.

[SeriousStudent]

I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that SeriousStudent was asking specifically about rendering aid to someone after you have shot him.

That was not my intention. My personal game plan was to call the proper law enforcement as soon as possible, and request that they dispatch medical aid as well.

I would prefer to avoid the bad guy's icky red stuff if at all possible.

I was basically curious if issues such as "Good Samaritan laws" ever came up in your class, and you answered how you would handle that question.

Thanks again.

[SeriousStudent]

Not Todd, but...

Several folks here are BLS/EMS faculty or instructors. Start a new thread and we can kick this around.

As always, an excellent idea. I shall do so.

[SeriousStudent]

Here is my take on staying out of legal trouble.....

Do not perform skills beyond your level of certification, and only do what is necessary to stabilize the situation until professional rescuers can respond.

You have to be able to justify your actions and articulate the need to perform any act.

Words worth engraving in granite. Thank you, Doc.

And from an old O3, thank you for your service.

[ToddG]

I was basically curious if issues such as "Good Samaritan laws" ever came up in your class, and you answered how you would handle that question.

I think there was a miscommunication. When I said I'm doing MFR this month, I meant taking the class as a student, not teaching it. The only classes I teach are shooting classes.

[SeriousStudent]

Yes, that was what I took from your post. Good luck with the class.