/only medical knowledgeable people answer please can i be accountable for helping an elderly man?
i took care of an elderly man for 7 weeks.he always falls he refuses to go to the hospital so i have to steri strip his wounds. last wed he called he fell he hit his head and has a big skin tear.i fixed it the best i could. he got infection and is in the hospital. im concerned because he is confidential im worried i may now get in trouble? helping this man.being a good samarian
Answers:
Elderly people resent the loss of liberty that comes with increasing infimity, and most times prefer to call the shots leading to their own demise. As observers - or caretakers - we cannot always relate, and tend to react from our own perspective.
Being there at this gentleman's side, come what may, surely qualifies you as a good samaritan.
If you are his caregive you should assess the situation, if it required hospitalization then it was your duty to take him no matter what, if you saw no need then its ok. An infection can happen with any wound.
You tried your best as a good samaritan, dont worry
If you are a registered or licensed professional you have a small window of liability, but as long as you acted within said certification and to the best of your ability at the time you're good. Check the Good Samaritan Laws in your state as a layperson I don't think you have any liability.
i would go to your boss and confess what happened cause if this man dies an autospy will be done to see the cause and it may come back to haunt you if you dont come clean now it may cost your job but i would rather be unemployed than in jail. your intentions may have been good but do the right thing and tell what happened after he fell and assure them he fell on his own
hi he should be getting some kind of medical attention. sometimes there are agencies that have home health aids to stay and help the elderly. he seems to be a good candidate. you would be held accountable just because you touched him. my advice try to help him by getting him someone who is trained. don't get your self into problems that you could do without.
In the USA. A competent person can refuse medical treatment or going to the hospital. You couldn't get in any trouble for helping him out the best you could. If he was obviously incompetent or acting crazy. you could be held responsible. It would be very unlikely any charges would be held against you for an honest mistake trying to help someone out though. At the very worst, someone may talk to you about what happened. If you're not in the USA. Things may be entirely different for all I know.
There is no problem with him paying you as long as he is competent. However, this may look suspicious to authorities and they may keep an eye on the situation. You would have been wise to make some calls and initiate someone keeping an eye on the situation yourself. I forget exactly who does this. We had somebody keeping an eye on things concerning our dying mother who refused to go to the hospital. Things were so crazy, I can't even remember who. sorry. Social services maybe? These people were called by some of the non-medical "nurses" we had helping out and were worried about liability. It turned out to be a good thing for everybody having proof that this is what she wanted. Nobody had to worry about liability since the case was investigated, mom seemed competent enough to make her own decisions. They may ask the man questions to determine if his competency needs looking into.
There are people who would keep an incompetent person from getting help if they had money to gain from it. So. yeah. Getting paid does make the situation a little different and you should have mentioned that. Why didn't you? As a matter of fact. you called yourself a "good Samaritan" when you were just making some money. Scares me about your honesty a bit. If you were part of keeping an incompetent person from medical care for profit. I hope they nail you. Sounds like the other person involved may have known she was doing wrong, making money by not reporting the situation and tried to use you in situations she felt were more risky. She will also end up in big trouble if that's the case.
You would need to check the law which applies in your own community. ( you don't say where you are).
In some places, there is a "Good Samaritan" provision to protect people who are acting out of a genuine desire to help.
However, 7 weeks seems to be a long time to be acting on impulse.
Another issue may be whether your received any payment of compensation - that can change your liability situation too.
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