INSURANCE CRAZED; GOOD SAMARITAN DOCTRINE BE DAMNED

[Rana Goodman]

INSURANCE CRAZED; GOOD SAMARITAN DOCTRINE BE DAMNED

(thank you Wikipedia)

Good Samaritan laws offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are, or who they believe to be, injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated. The protection is intended to reduce bystanders’ hesitation to assist, for fear of being sued or prosecuted for unintentional injury or wrongful death. An example of such a law in common-law areas of Canada: a good Samaritan doctrine is a legal principle that prevents a rescuer who has voluntarily helped a victim in distress from being successfully sued for wrongdoing. Its purpose is to keep people from being reluctant to help a stranger in need for fear of legal repercussions should they make some mistake in treatment.  By contrast, a duty to rescue law requires people to offer assistance, and holds those who fail to do so liable

The Community Patrol, formerly the Security Patrol) rules basically state: that they are to “observe and report” nothing more, nothing less. The volunteers serve this community by driving endless hours driving the streets watching for bad guys and “things that go bump in the night.” They alert many of us when we forget to close the garage doors and often do home checks when we leave town. There is no doubt that these men and women do a great job within the confines that they are given.

BUT, just as the whip on rules and regulations have been heaped upon the clubs in our community, they now seem to be winding their way into our patrol too. All under the guise of blaming it on “the insurance guy, wasn’t that what we were told when administration said we drop the name “SECURITY” from patrol? Hmmmm, McDonald Ranch cars are still called Security Patrol……

Anyway, you will love this newest one: not only must the patrol just “observe and report,” but heaven help you if you should happen to get hurt as one of our men or women in blue happen by, they are not even allowed to assist with basic first aid while waiting for first responders.

What if the “first aid” could possibly save a life? Remember we are in a senior community and many here might just be on blood thinners…..   A cut to some could be a massive bleed to others, I know, been there/done that!

The patrol’s first aid kits instructions state: 

1) For use only by a member of the patrol for another patrol member.
2) The first aid kit is NOT to be used for anyone else.

For example: A patrol car is cruising down the street and sees that a resident has fallen and is, severely bleeding from an arterial cut, they can bleed out in a short period of time.  He uses his cell to call 911 and

NOW WHAT?  “The rules say, observe and report” He has a first aid kit, but has been ordered not to use it…. He has a belt on his jeans, he could take it off, try to stop the bleed, that too is against the rules,

do nothing else but watch the man bleed to death, because we can’t use the gloves and gauze pads to do compression on the wound!   WHAT WOULD YOU DO?  

If you apply compression, try to stop the bleeding and prevent further injury until paramedics can arrive, depending upon where they must come from, which can take 6-10 minutes.  Even though there is the golden hour in trauma treatment, when someone bleeds out, it can take under 10 minutes, with the possibility of brain damage within that time.

If the association feared getting sued for saving a life, or giving first aid The patrol member is covered by the Good Samaritan law and the association, by extension is also covered.

[Anonymous]

I would like to hear from a member of the Community Patrol that was present when these regulations were discussed as to exactly what was said.  I have heard other things that occurred, but not being present at that meeting it could only be considered “heresay”.  It is outrageous to tell a resident on their patrol that they cannot help another resident who may just be dying.  That is inhumane and morally reprehensible. This a new low in the long list of residents be damned by management and the BOD.

Patsy

 

Patsy

[Anonymous]

The focus on “observe and report” has come about since members of the patrol are not trained or licensed as security guards, are prohibited from carrying weapons (even if the member has a concealed carry permit), are provided with no first aid training, are not required to have CPR training, and we have no police authority to control traffic, etc on public roadways.  Thus, for many years the training of patrol members has been to focus on “observe and report”.  If there is an accident, the patrol members are instructed to call 911 to ensure a prompt police and ambulance response.  If there is something suspicious taking place at a residence to back off and immediately call for a Henderson PD response.

Providing medical assistance, giving rides to residents, etc are all things that the patrol does not regularly do as part of their mission and regular duties.  This has been a consistent policy since I joined the Community Patrol in 2011 and for the two years I served as Chief of the Community Patrol.  While this was the policy and our training emphasized “observe and report” only, we also constantly emphasized the use of common sense when encountering potential situations.  Here are some examples:

1. Normally the Patrol is not to block a street by putting out orange cones or using the patrol vehicle to block the area. The response should be to call the Henderson PD.  However, if there existed an imminent danger then we asked our members to exercise their common sense.  Thus, if a portion of the roadway had given in to a large sink hole, I can not think of a member who would not put out orange cones or put the car with its lights flashing into a position to block others from driving into the hole.
2. While we do not provide first aid as a normal part of our volunteer work, would our volunteers let a person bleed out if they had a spurting arterial wound.  The answer would again be using common sense to do something to preserve life while the PD and Fire Rescue Units arrived.
3. If a persons car broke down and it was freezing outside or 120 degrees would we refuse to take the person home. Again using common sense our volunteers would respond to do what is right and needed.

These are just some examples.  In getting new First Aid kits it would not be unusual to emphasize that these are for the use of volunteers and not to be used to give first aid to the general community.  After all we are not trained in first aid and the kits we use are not purchased to have all of the things needed to treat anything other than general cuts and abrasions.  However, does that mean we would not use what we have at our disposal if we came across a life and death situation?  The answer is that we would use our common sense and use the first aid kit, our belts and anything thing else useful to stop the bleeding and to try to safe a life.

Before blowing this issue up, please put it into perspective of what the CP volunteers are generally equipped to do and what they are instructed to do.  While the training focuses on “observe and report”, all of our trainings over the past 6 years we have always added the caveat to say “normally” and to also use our “common sense” in non routine situations.  While I am no longer a member of the Patrol, I do not think that anything has changed in the past 6 months under the capable leadership of Gene Freeze.

Stephen Anderson, past Community Patrol Chief 2015 and 2016

[Anonymous]

Fear is an insidious thing; it starts out small, and feeding on bits and pieces of misinformation and paranoia, grows into a paralyzing demon threatening to choke out our very existence.  Fear is usually considered necessary to keep us out of harm’s way, but has found itself to be a very useful tool for lawyers and insurance salespeople.

Personally, we’re finding that SCA residents are paying a very high price, in terms of stress and worry, compared to our friends who live elsewhere.  With all the concern about keeping our community in first-class physical condition, perhaps a little time and energy could be put into making our life here smoother and more enjoyable.

There’s a reason recall and executive incompetence initiatives happen, and one doesn’t have to dig too deep into present day SCA goings-on to see why that is.  We’re hopeful that ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ trumps any cards SCA management holds.

[Anonymous]

Stephen, thank you for your first-hand information regarding the regulations for Patrol members.  There must have been more to the meeting that recently occurred that we do not know at this time.  I hope someone that was there will come forward and tell residents what happened at that particular meeting.

And, Richard, AMEN!  We can always count on the Inglefields to be voices of reason and to tell it like it is.

Patsy

[Rana Goodman]

And you Steve for that thoughtful and great reply, I hope most, if not ALL of the wonderful patrol volunteers feel as you do. I have so much respect respect for them and am amazed at the dedication and time that they put in to this effort. It just makes me so frustrated to see such hard working volunteers hindered by so many rules and regulations in place of giving them added training.

Rather than give the patrol more tools to assist our residents, such as better training in more areas, in my opinion, the added rules treat them like one would a child, “now don’t forget you just observe and report”… These volunteers all had busy professional lives,  if they would like to be trained to do more wouldn’t it be great to get that for them, it would be a win-win for all of us?

[Author]

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