Since there seems to be a lot of confusion about the law in this thread, Fun fact! We didn't use to have these laws. As early as the 2000's you could very much still be sued for intervening and saving a person's life.
However, as expected, there were a lot of suits against medical professionals trying to do their jobs as well as civilians thinking they'd done the right thing, which resulted in a damned if you did, damned if you didn't situation regarding medical care. You could be sued for failing to save, and sued for saving. So in the US, there are now Duty to Save laws.
Duty to Save means if you are actively working (duty to Save does NOT apply if you are off the clock, not actively working) as a firefighter, EMS, nurse, doctor, career in which your contract puts you in a rescue position or similar you have the Duty to save, it is your responsibility to intervene and provide life saving assistance and you cannot be sued for it unless your actions result in permanent injury of the patient due to you being careless or making mistakes (Malpractice). An injury or disability resulting from the trauma they were treated for would not count for Malpractice, and Malpractice is extremely fact specific.
Duty to Save laws are very fact specific and can have certain stipulations or loopholes that are specific to your location/state but in general EMS/Firefighters. Etc can no longer be personally sued for saving the life of a suicidal person.
So DNRs can be tricky. In the event of a medical professional or rescuer, if you are conscious and can inform them of the DNR and its location(as they legally must see the order), or if you have a medical bracelette or something legally recognized as stating you have a DNR (last I knew tattoos were being debated) then, Then the rescuer cannot legally and should not attempt to save you.
If you are unconscious and there's no sign of a DNR, they must attempt to save or resuscitate you until you are brought to the hospital where the DNR should be on file or the DNR is presented to the rescuer on scene/during rescue attempts. Once presented all rescue efforts must be stopped. If efforts continue, the DNR holder if alive or family on their behalf may sue.
In the event of a civilian, if they know there is a DNR and still attempt rescue until a proper rescuer arrives, they can be sued. If they do not know there is a DNR and attempt rescue until a proper rescuer arrives, they cannot be sued as they would be protected under good Samaritan laws as it is not reasonable to expect them to check for a DNR.
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u/AdoIfTickler Aug 13 '21
REALLY? there’s not actually a do not catch me order? I could’ve sworn I saw it on House?