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Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
#1
Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
Imagine the following scenario:

I'm a doctor working at the ER and a patient comes in, his life is at stake and in desperate need of a blood transfusion. 

When I'm about to order the nurses to start the whole procedure and perform the transfusion to save the patient's life, he proudly says "I'm a Jehovah's witness, I don't accept blood transfusions". He then faints and his life is slipping away.

Scared about the situation, but committed to fulfill my ethics of preserving and saving human lives at all cost, I still perform the transfusion, hoping that the person would regret later or at least I'll feel like a better person because I didn't allow someone to die in vain.

The patient wakes up, realizes his life has been wrongly saved, and acknowledges he's going to hell. He then sues me for doing my job. That's right, I am being used for saving someone's life, for following my ethics code and not allowing another human being to die.

Niceness aside, this is just idiotic. People have the right to be mad for getting their lives saved, but should a capable doctor be suspended, fire and ruin his career because a religionist decided he couldn't have his life? I find this very confusing. 

I'm sure this story has happened many times, but it was first narrated to me by a professor of criminal law last year during a lecture - He was called early in the morning to go to the hospital because he was in charge of the legal penal stuff related to consenting into surgeries, transfusions and other medical procedures when people have reasons to oppose it. The way he told the story and how it felt looking at a man's eyes, suffering in pain and agony until the last minute, but to everyone's despair the last words were "No!".

To think this actually happens is disturbing. But it gets worse, some people want their children to not have blood transfusions. 

This isn't an argument as much as getting something off my chest because I find it sad and sick. How does society lead with this and people literally being sued for saving others' life?
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you

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#2
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
I think in the case of an adult he has every right to die. However in the case of children with religious parents there needs to be a law tha says your right to religion doesn't include endangering the lives of children. Let's face it if you denying your child life saving care you are a murderer!
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#3
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
I agree OP, that is bullshit. Sad sometimes the world we live in.
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
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#4
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
Has anyone been successfully sued for giving a blood transfusion and saving a person's life?
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great

PM me your email address to join the Slack chat! I'll give you a taco(or five) if you join! --->There's an app and everything!<---
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#5
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
My main defense, if it went to court, is that the bible says not to drink blood, or eat raw meat. Quite different from getting a transfusion of blood that we are certain your body won't reject. If Jehova still has a problem with that, sue him.
Poe's Law: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."

10 Christ-like figures that predate Jesus. Link shortened to Chris ate Jesus for some reason...
http://listverse.com/2009/04/13/10-chris...ate-jesus/

Good video to watch, if you want to know how common the Jesus story really is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88GTUXvp-50

A list of biblical contradictions from the infallible word of Yahweh.
http://infidels.org/library/modern/jim_m...tions.html

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#6
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
Let's look at this from another angle.

I have a living will. In it, I unequivocally state that there are certain medical procedures I do not consent to under any circumstance, should I be unable to indicate consent. Is a physician who is aware of the patient's wishes ever correct to perform a procedure that he knows that the patient absolutely does not consent to? If yes, where do you draw the line?
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#7
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
If he's an adult and makes the decision for him/herself, the doc is obliged to carry out the patient's wishes.  It's only in the case of children where the legality is questioned.

Never encountered this when I worked A&E but I've heard the stories.  And all docs involved accepted the adult patient's decision, or the decision of their spouse/parent if they show they're the patient's medical proxy.

Playing Cluedo with my mum while I was at Uni:

"You did WHAT?  With WHO?  WHERE???"
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#8
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
Quote: But you know Baldrick, the world isn't
    fair. If it was, things like this wouldn't happen would they? (hits
    Baldrick around the back of the head)
http://allblackadderscripts.blogspot.com...y-and.html
So how, exactly, does God know that She's NOT a brain in a vat? Huh
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#9
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
(July 12, 2015 at 10:51 pm)BrokenQuill92 Wrote: I think in the case of an adult he has every right to die. However in the case of children with religious parents there needs to be a law tha says your right to religion doesn't include endangering the lives of children. Let's face it if you denying your child life saving care you are a murderer!

What the hell?  You are an "old" member, who has not been around for a while, and you recently come back and keep saying good, sensible things.  If I were not happily married, I would be unhappy that you are happy with your boyfriend.

Tell him he is a lucky bastard and make sure he appreciates you!

"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
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#10
RE: Can I be sued for saving someone's life? Yes I can
(July 12, 2015 at 11:14 pm)Pyrrho Wrote:
(July 12, 2015 at 10:51 pm)BrokenQuill92 Wrote: I think in the case of an adult he has every right to die. However in the case of children with religious parents there needs to be a law tha says your right to religion doesn't include endangering the lives of children. Let's face it if you denying your child life saving care you are a murderer!

What the hell?  You are an "old" member, who has not been around for a while, and you recently come back and keep saying good, sensible things.  If I were not happily married, I would be unhappy that you are happy with your boyfriend.

Tell him he is a lucky bastard and make sure he appreciates you!

Well if I ever dump him maybe I'll let you know!
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