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Swenson v. Waseca Mutual Insurance Co.12/10/2002
was lying in the highway, were at an emergency scene as required by Utah's Good Samaritan law). Further, the protection of the Good Samaritan law is not lost if there is a reasonably brief delay in seeking medical care. See Youngblood, 765 P.2d at 1320. Similarly, an accident victim does not need to be suffering from a life-threatening injury in order for an emergency to exist. Rivera v. Arana, 749 N.E.2d 434, 442 (Ill. App. 3d 2001) (holding that a doctor who treated, at his office and without charge, a boy who had ulcerated and infected feet was protected by Illinois' Good Samaritan law, because without treatment the boy's infection could have become worse). Tiegs came across an accident scene not long after the accident had occurred. She encountered an accident victim in a great deal of pain and in need of immediate medical assistance. We conclude that Swenson's circumstances easily qualify as an emergency scene.
The language of subdivision 2 of the Good Samaritan statute does not require grave or life-threatening injuries nor does the statute prohibit the use of an indirect route to the medical facility, such as occurred here. Further, other states, examining the scope of Good Samaritan statutes, typically have not required life-threatening injuries as a condition precedent to receiving immunity. Arana, 749 N.E.2d at 442. The only requirement is that a person render assistance at the scene of an emergency. An emergency is a scene where a combination of events which calls for "immediate action" it is not limited to the threat of grave physical harm. Gust, 486 N.W.2d at 9 (quotation omitted).
Appellant's parsing of the statute would require good samaritans to determine the severity of an injury before offering assistance. There is no indication that the legislature intended non-emergency personnel attempting to aid an injured party to make preliminary determinations as to the severity of the injury or the extent of the emergency before entitlement to immunity under the Good Samaritan law. Appellant's formulation also ignores the probability that less serious injuries, left untreated, may in time become more serious, a risk that would increase under the interpretation urged by appellant.
When Tiegs came upon the accident, she had no way of knowing the true extent of Swenson's injuries. Nor could she contact help. She was at the scene of an emergency: a situation calling for "immediate action or remedy; pressing necessity; exigency; * * * an unforeseen occurrence or condition." See Gust, 486 N.W.2d at 9 (quotation omitted). The de minimus delay occasioned by the planned indirect route to the hospital did nothing to lessen the nature of the emergency encountered by Tiegs.
DECISION
Tiegs acted at the scene of an emergency and gave assistance to an injured person by attempting to transport an accident victim to a hospital. Her actions fall within Minn. Stat. ยง 604A.01, subd.2 (2002), and, because there were no genuine issues of material fact and Tiegs was otherwise entitled to the immunity provisions of Minnesota's Good Samaritan law, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment.
Affirmed.
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