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Home > Archive > Emergency services > October 2004 > duty of helping
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| Erik Rull 2004-10-16, 7:10 pm |
| Hi,
has your country a duty of helping and what happens if you do not help
after an accident? (prison and so on...)
I just know the laws in Germany and here, you must help, if you don't
endanger yourself otherwise you might get into prison for one year.
If you have references to the paragraphs, post them too.
Thanks,
Greets,
Erik
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| Carey Gregory 2004-10-16, 7:10 pm |
| Erik Rull <webmasterspam@rdsoftware.de> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>has your country a duty of helping and what happens if you do not help
>after an accident? (prison and so on...)
In the US there are 2 or 3 states that have laws like that, but to my
knowledge they're almost never enforced. In general, rendering aid is never
mandatory in the US unless you have a "duty to act." Those with a duty to
act would be EMTs, firefighters, police officers, etc.
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| danny burstein 2004-10-16, 10:08 pm |
| In <ivb3n0dc39csvaepfo6abnn6j94hssenuv@4ax.com> Carey Gregory <tiredofspam123@comcast.net> writes:
>In the US there are 2 or 3 states that have laws like that, but to my
>knowledge they're almost never enforced. In general, rendering aid is never
>mandatory in the US unless you have a "duty to act." Those with a duty to
>act would be EMTs, firefighters, police officers, etc.
Note that that's *on duty* EMTs, etc. There's NO requirement, despite what
many generations of EMT students have been told, to do anything when
you're off duty. (that's as a general rule. There's probably some small
county or village somewhere that provides the exception)
This varies a lot with police and sometimes with firefighters, though. In
many areas those folk are considered "on duty" 24 hours/day.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of EMS and Fire service in the United
States is performed by volunteers, so you cna't make their life too
hard...
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
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| Alan Erskine 2004-10-16, 10:08 pm |
| "Erik Rull" <webmasterspam@rdsoftware.de> wrote in message
news:ckrm1t$4i7$04$1@news.t-online.com...
> Hi,
>
> has your country a duty of helping and what happens if you do not help
> after an accident? (prison and so on...)
In Australia, as far as I know, there is no such law; indeed, it is
recommended by some that assistance only be given if the person assisting
knows what to do - things have an unfortunate habit of 'going down hill' if
the wrong help is given.
--
Alan Erskine
We can get people to the Moon in five years,
not the fifteen GWB proposes.
Give NASA a real challenge
Alanterskine1@bigpond.com
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| HorneTD 2004-10-17, 11:08 am |
| Erik Rull wrote:
> Hi,
>
> has your country a duty of helping and what happens if you do not help
> after an accident? (prison and so on...)
>
> I just know the laws in Germany and here, you must help, if you don't
> endanger yourself otherwise you might get into prison for one year.
>
> If you have references to the paragraphs, post them too.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Greets,
>
> Erik
Erik
In the United States of America the only state that I know of that has
such a requirement is Vermont. There may be others that I am not aware
of. Any licensed driver in Vermont is required to stop and render aid
to the best of their ability. Enforcement is another matter.
There is a principle of civil law in the US that is called the "Doctrine
of Rescue." This doctrine states that "No one may be required to
imperil them self to rescue another from their own folly." I don't know
how the law works in Germany but here in the USA there are courts of Law
and courts of Equity. The courts of Law are commonly called criminal
courts. The courts of Equity are commonly called civil courts. The
doctrine of rescue applies to most civil court matters. The requirement
in Vermont would be a criminal court matter.
An odd side issue is that many states still have statutes that allow
fire authorities to order ordinary citizens to assist in the suppression
of fire but those statutes are seldom applied in modern practice.
During the first half of the twentieth century those statutes were
applied to obtaining sufficient staffing to suppress wildland fires.
--
Tom H
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