EMT Insurance

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CougarEMT

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Hey Folks,

Recently qualified and will be starting my first volunteer service with our town (in NJ). They say I will be put on insurance and begin to ride.

My question is this. When you are "off duty" do you need or advised to have private insurance to protect you from potential lawsuits? For example, I was at a public event recently and would have helped someone if needed even though I am not yet affiliated with any service. Also, if have have insurance with my town ambulance service, does this also cover me when "off duty"?

Thanks
CougarEMT
 
Most of the time (and not counting Jersey and their weird laws to which I know nothing of) if you’re off duty and acting as a private citizen you’re covered by the Good Samaritan law in most states. I don’t ever do more than simple lay person first aid anyways if that, with very few and specific exceptions.
 
Goo Samaritan laws protect you for rendering aid so you can't be sued. Having said that, I'd get insurance. As a nurse, I go through NSO. It's $160/yr and pays from Day 1. DO NOT get reimbursement insurance. It only pays after the fact. Worthless.
 
MackTheKnife said:
Goo Samaritan laws protect you for rendering aid so you can't be sued IN MOST CIRCUMSTANCES . Having said that, I'd get insurance. As a nurse, I go through NSO. It's $160/yr and pays from Day 1. DO NOT get reimbursement insurance. It only pays after the fact. Worthless.
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Fix it for you.
 
You made clear what I implied! LOL. There's always some lawyer that will sue anyone for anything.
 
So far Ive lived by the rule of minding my own business. So far this approach has been 100% successful in avoiding lawsuits.
 
GMCmedic said:
So far Ive lived by the rule of minding my own business. So far this approach has been 100% successful in avoiding lawsuits.
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I’m a damn cell phone hero. Doesn’t mean I’m going to stop to help
 
Generally speaking, most first aid and BLS interventions off-duty are covered by Good Samaritan laws, assuming someone is in a crisis and you are assisting with that crisis.

This isn’t usually true of ALS interventions, or interventions off-duty where a crisis does not exist.
 
As most have said, there are several routes here.
As long as you're off duty, the Good Samaritan laws will kick in. Be advised however, that Good Samaritan isn't a catch all. Often they don't cover you from negligence if you operate beyond the scope of your training, or do something a normal lay-person wouldn't do (like try to McGiver a cric).

On duty you're covered. Although you may consider carrying your own insurance anyway. As a volunteer, your agency may not have a very large policy or have the means to adequately defend you if something were to come up. Personal professional insurance is cheap, and can be as little as $100/year.

At my agency, we actually can be covered by insurance and medical direction off duty, so that's a nice luxury, but most people don't have that. That said, I'm not looking to respond in my free time, the policy exists so that if we stumbled across something we could assist an on duty crews if needed. (I work in a rural area).
 
If you’re doing things off duty that you think you need insurance for, you’re doing it wrong.

If you can’t buy it at CVS, you shouldn’t be using it off duty....
 
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