DT4EMS
Kip Teitsort, Founder
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The Reasonable “Prudent” Man.
Although you don’t see him every day, he is always around, watching everything you do.
If you are ever sued, for a medical reason, he’s in court with you. If you ever have to use self-defense, he is there when the officers are taking your statement. He’s in court with you.
The “Reasonable Prudent Man” is an imaginary person that doesn’t exist but is everywhere. It is the “standard” by which you are judged based upon your training and experience.
If it is a medical call that you are being “sued” over the “Reasonable Prudent Man” will be the smartest, most decorated medic the plaintiff’s attorney could find to claim you did everything wrong. They will use him to prove you were wrong.
In self-defense it is the same. The “Reasonable Prudent Man Test” is basically……
Would a similarly trained person, in the same or similar situation, have acted the same way?”
See this is where you get nailed. A person has months or even years to review a specific situation, where you made a decision in a matter of seconds.
This is why documentation, both medical and legal is so important. You have to paint the whole picture. It is called “The Totality of the Circumstances”. If you have never been on the stand, it will start something like this:
Sir? Madam, State your name and spell your last name for the court………….Who do you work for?
What is your title?, Were you working on the night of ……? Where you called to……….” And so on. Then there are tricks like “So, you would put things in your report if they were important……..,right?”
Then you wouldn’t leave anything of importance out because you are a good medic right?
Getting you set up so the REASONABLE and PRUDENT medic can get up and show that he would have done this and that and you were NOT REASONABLE or PRUDENT.
The same is true if you have to defend yourself. You must document everything. It is OK to say you were “afraid”. But your actions must always be REASONABLE and PRUDENT.
So if you were intoxicated and thought you were fighting aliens from space and hurt someone………it is not considered “Reasonable”.
Although you don’t see him every day, he is always around, watching everything you do.
If you are ever sued, for a medical reason, he’s in court with you. If you ever have to use self-defense, he is there when the officers are taking your statement. He’s in court with you.
The “Reasonable Prudent Man” is an imaginary person that doesn’t exist but is everywhere. It is the “standard” by which you are judged based upon your training and experience.
If it is a medical call that you are being “sued” over the “Reasonable Prudent Man” will be the smartest, most decorated medic the plaintiff’s attorney could find to claim you did everything wrong. They will use him to prove you were wrong.
In self-defense it is the same. The “Reasonable Prudent Man Test” is basically……
Would a similarly trained person, in the same or similar situation, have acted the same way?”
See this is where you get nailed. A person has months or even years to review a specific situation, where you made a decision in a matter of seconds.
This is why documentation, both medical and legal is so important. You have to paint the whole picture. It is called “The Totality of the Circumstances”. If you have never been on the stand, it will start something like this:
Sir? Madam, State your name and spell your last name for the court………….Who do you work for?
What is your title?, Were you working on the night of ……? Where you called to……….” And so on. Then there are tricks like “So, you would put things in your report if they were important……..,right?”
Then you wouldn’t leave anything of importance out because you are a good medic right?
Getting you set up so the REASONABLE and PRUDENT medic can get up and show that he would have done this and that and you were NOT REASONABLE or PRUDENT.
The same is true if you have to defend yourself. You must document everything. It is OK to say you were “afraid”. But your actions must always be REASONABLE and PRUDENT.
So if you were intoxicated and thought you were fighting aliens from space and hurt someone………it is not considered “Reasonable”.
Good things to think about though.