Abstract
Background
Early bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has been associated with better
patient outcomes in cardiac arrest. Despite this, not all cases of cardiac arrest
receive bystander intervention. Reasons for this gap include disparities in provision
of bystander CPR between race, gender and age groups. Concern of legal liability for
responders has also been described. We propose that bystanders are more likely to
face litigation for lack of intervention compared to providing bystander CPR due to
the presence of ‘Good Samaritan’ statutes in all 50 states. This review of the legal
literature seeks to quantify the number of cases brought against bystanders in the
US over the past 30 years and explore the reasons behind them.
Methods
The Westlaw legal research database was searched for jury verdicts, settlements, and
appellate opinions from all 50 states from 1989 to 2019 for personal injury or wrongful
death lawsuits involving CPR. Of 506 cases manually reviewed by the authors, 170 were
directly related to CPR. Case details including jurisdiction, location, date, plaintiff
and defendant demographics, level of training of CPR provider, relationship to patient,
motivation for the lawsuit, and case outcomes were recorded.
Results
Our data show a significant difference in the number of cases of cases alleging battery
versus negligence regarding provision of CPR. Of 170 cases, 167 were due to inadequate
or untimely bystander CPR. Three cases alleging harm due to providing CPR were identified.
Conclusions
This study represents the largest single study of legal cases involving bystander
CPR in the medical literature. The likelihood of litigation is significantly higher
in cases with bystander CPR absent or delayed. The authors propose the inclusion of
this data and reiteration of ‘Good Samaritan’ statutes in all 50 states during CPR
training to reassure and encourage public response to cardiac arrests.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 04, 2020
Accepted:
March 21,
2020
Received in revised form:
March 11,
2020
Received:
December 24,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
