Scenario – Jessica, a registered nurse (RN), and her husband are finally leaving on their vacation trip. They pull up at a red light as it is about to change to green. They watch in horror as a large truck, moving fast down a hill, in unable to stop before crashing into a van carrying a mother and her child. The van is thrown into the air and lands in a small park. Jessica runs over to offer aid. She finds a semi-conscious woman in the driver’s seat and an unconscious 4-year-old little boy in the back seat strapped into his car seat. The mother asks Jessica if Christopher is all right before she slips into unconsciousness. Christopher is unconscious and not breathing with his head down and touching his chest. He has a gash bleeding on the side of his head caused by his tricycle flying over the back seat during the crash. A truck driver, who also stopped to give help, yells in the window at Jessica, “Don’t move him!” Jessica knows that she has to get Christopher’s breathing started. Even though the truck driver is still yelling at her not to move the boy, she gently lifts his head off his chest. Christopher, still unconscious, starts breathing immediately. Jessica stops the bleeding on his head by applying pressure using a clean handkerchief from her husband. Emergency help arrives ten minutes later.
Instructions:
Read the scenario above and then, answer the following questions:
In your opinion, even though Jessica knew that, in most cases, an injured victim should not be moved, did she do the right thing by moving Christopher’s chin up so he could breathe?
Was Jessica covered by the Good Samaritan law or was she held to a higher standard since she had a nursing license?
Would Jessica have been covered by the Good Samaritan law if Christopher had not started breathing when she moved his head and he had suffered further injury from the movement?
Was Jessica, an RN, legally required to stop and provide aid? Was she ethically obligated to stop and provide aid?
In your opinion, is it always a good idea to stop and give assistance at an accident site before medical help arrives?
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