2007-10-22 09:09:07 · 7 answers · asked by c 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
a person was overdosing on drugs as the person he was with in her home phoned friends to ask advice and monitored his pulse and breathing. then waited an hour after he stopped breathing to phone an ambulance
2007-10-22 09:19:47 · update #1
Caring for the dying is legal in most states, so long as you are not withholding nutrition or other required medical care.
2007-10-22 09:13:05 · answer #1 · answered by raichasays 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The answer to your question is whether you have a legal duty to the person that is dying in your home. Typically a legal duty is established by a statute created by the legislature, a relationship (parent-child, spouses, etc), a contractual agreement between the individuals, voluntarily entered into the care of the individual or you are the one who put the person in peril. From what little info you have given the only concern would be whether the individual has voluntarily entered into the care of the person dying. There have been some crazy cases where people have watched parents beat on their kids and did not have a responsibility to act to protect the child. The person watching did not have a legal duty to act and so was either not charged or was not convicted of a crime. This is pretty standard throughout the US.
With the further info you have given unless the person gave the drugs to the person overdosing there is a good chance that the person would get off. All the same it might go to a jury and they could decide how they want and as long as an appeal did not happen the person watching could still go to jail.
2007-10-22 09:23:40 · answer #2 · answered by dennis_evans2003 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unless the person is a close relative or your spouse, OR you work in the public sector and that's your job (nurse, doctor), you are under no duty to perform lifesaving on anyone whatsoever. There's no crime, as you did not commit a homicide.
2007-10-22 09:33:55 · answer #3 · answered by Shell Answer Man 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My mother died at home just 2 years ago- we had a member of the clergy there and the hospice nurse and family of course. That was in North Carolina.
2007-10-22 09:14:29 · answer #4 · answered by tnfarmgirl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
are you talking assisted suicide..in Oregon a patient can get a prescription for a lethal liquid that they then drink at home to die..when i was in home health care i had 2 clients choose to end there life that way..of coarse there is criteria to be meet you just cant go in and say i want to die and get it
2007-10-22 09:12:28 · answer #5 · answered by little78lucky 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Washington (at least not back in the late 1980s -- I don't think those laws have changed since then).
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2007-10-22 09:12:28 · answer #6 · answered by tlbs101 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
:O
only in the saw movies
2007-10-22 09:12:11 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋