This is appalling !!!

[chatpilot]

So, this is what we pay our taxes for! After I read this story and heard it on the local news I was disgusted beyond the description of words. Here is what I think should be done right away to send a message out to our city workers that they need to start taking their jobs alot more seriously. These two emt's should be fired not suspended without pay or unemployment benefits, they should both be criminally charged for something like negligent homicide for not doing the job that they are being paid to do by the city in the first place. They should both be given lengthy incarceration sentences, tell me what you think fellow atheists and theists.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/mp/...e-to-help/

[fr0d0]

Very sad. If they were on a break they were not being paid, but just from a human perspective you'd have to help if you could.

[theVOID]

So, this is what we pay our taxes for! After I read this story and heard it on the local news I was disgusted beyond the description of words. Here is what I think should be done right away to send a message out to our city workers that they need to start taking their jobs alot more seriously. These two emt's should be fired not suspended without pay or unemployment benefits, they should both be criminally charged for something like negligent homicide for not doing the job that they are being paid to do by the city in the first place. They should both be given lengthy incarceration sentences, tell me what you think fellow atheists and theists.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/mp/...e-to-help/

Sickening, they should be banished from society out into a jungle so they can be as negligent as they want.

[Meatball]

I might be wrong on this, but this seems like it could be criminal negligence. People with medical training are held to a higher legal standard for things like this, if I'm not mistaken.

I think that would be a bullshit law, but you have to be a pretty shitty person to deny someone like that.

I'm sure those EMT's won't soon forget what they did, though.

[leo-rcc]

I might be wrong on this, but this seems like it could be criminal negligence. People with medical training are held to a higher legal standard for things like this, if I'm not mistaken.

Their training has nothing to do with it is it were the Netherlands. There is still the myth going around that someone trained in first aid would be punishable under law when failing to help another person needing medical attention when someone who is not isn't, which is not true. The truth is that any Dutch citizen is obliged to help another person needing medical attention to the best of their ability, regardless of their medical training or background. So in their failure to help, regardless of their training, they can be (and probably will be) prosecuted for not helping out.

The problem is that a lot of Dutch people still believe that it is the case however that a first aid trained person would be treated differently legally, and therefore don't take first aid training. That is a serious issue.

[Edwardo Piet]

Some more despairing news . Indeed, sadly humanity is so often not humane.

EvF

[chatpilot]

Meatball said: "I might be wrong on this, but this seems like it could be criminal negligence. People with medical training are held to a higher legal standard for things like this, if I'm not mistaken."

You are absolutely correct mb at least in the U.S. they are obligated to act because of their training. They are not just an average citizen with basic cpr training their training goes way beyond that and the fact that they were in uniform at the time still means that they were on duty. Even if they were not on duty from a human standpoint I personally would be compelled to help.

The police officers of this state are in a similar position, you are an officer 24 hours a day even when you are off duty. And based on that assumption if you are off duty and witness a crime in progress you are obligated to act. The spokesman for the NY EMTs: "Our people tend to spring into action whether they're on duty, off duty, whatever they're doing," said Robert Ungar, spokesman for the Uniformed EMTS and Paramedics, FDNY, explaining that Emergency medical practitioners consider themselves to be on call 24 hours a day.

[Minimalist]

Unless the "facts" are materially different from what is presented ( um, and we all know that news sources don't always get the facts right) they will be fired upon completion of the investigation.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

The truth is that any Dutch citizen is obliged to help another person needing medical attention to the best of their ability, regardless of their medical training or background. So in their failure to help, regardless of their training, they can be (and probably will be) prosecuted for not helping out.

Same here in Australia.


The US incident beggars belief. I suspect there may be a case for a really juicy civil case as well as criminal charges. I think the US has the concept of 'reckless indifference'.

[fr0d0]

In the UK if you have medical training you're obliged to help someone if you've started. If you drive on by you're fine. IIRC