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The Chicago Yacht Club has found itself in hot water. For trying to save a woman's life.
The club has been slapped with a lawsuit stemming from an incident last March wherein an employee performed the Heimlich maneuver (unsuccessfully) on Claire Burnett Rice, after she choked on a piece of meat. The manuever did not dislodge the food and 911 was called.
Rice died about a week later due to complications resulting from anoxic encephalopathy, a lack of oxygen to the brain.
Rice's husband, Nick, is alleging that her death lies in the hands of the club because, according to the lawsuit, they, "assumed the duty to perform the Heimlich maneuver with due care." He feels that the employees didn't call 911 soon enough.
While we hope to never find ourselves in a similar situation, a few questions come to mind: What is the right thing to do in that situation? Do you stand by, and for fear that you might get sued, not help someone in distress? Why was it the ultimate responsibility of the club employees to call 911? Because they initiated the Heimlich? Couldn't anyone have picked up a phone and made the call for help?
It's a tough call. If anything, it's unfortunate that, in today's sue-happy society, we find ourselves having to make a choice between saving a life and saving our ass.
Image thanks to Joseph Palmer.
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Totally ridiculous. And if this suit is deemed to have an ounce of merit, then we REALLY need to improve our Good Samaritan laws.
I understand the impulse, when someone dies so senselessly, to try to identify a person or a group as repsonsible. I think it's a natural part of the grieving process. What I find disgusting is that we, as a society, have encouraged this by allowing frivolous lawsuits to continue, and awarding large judgements in cases that absolutely do NOT merit it.
Totally agree, K. I hope the suit is frivolous. I took an AED/CPR course through the AHA pretty recently, and they covered the Good Sam laws, which should protect the person that tried to save the woman's life.
But, even if the suit has merit, I would like to think that I would still help someone in distress, if it did not put me in immediate danger, and even if it did mean I was sued. And I hope that many do the same and are not discouraged by these lawsuits.
Look, I'm a former Boy Scout and I (supposedly) love all living beings, and I would totally help someone out in need (and have... I threw a life preserver and pulled a little girl out of the Kankakee River two years ago), and lawsuit be damned.
But what REALLY worries me about this sort of thing is, what if I was the (so rich I could afford a freaking boat) person? And all of a sudden I'm choking, or drowning, or on fire, or being mugged, or what have you, and all these places have strict policies against helping anyone because their insurance companies advise against it?
I know it's a reach, but you couldn't honestly put anything past me anymore when it comes to torts and crazy crap like this.
This is ridiculous as Illinois has a Good Samaritan Law. Just because the lawsuit was filed, doesn't mean that a judge won't (hopefully) throw it out of court.
Legality aside, unless the person was a trained doctor or paramedic, 911 should have been called immediately, then any maneuvers, Heimlich or otherwise, can be performed. There may be an issue of liability, though, if the Club was serving the food or whatever. But all in all, it's a bad idea in the long run to sue people who are trying to help you. Even if a person giving CPR breaks a rib, so what? They were trying to help, and even doctors can't save everyone. Unless of course it's gross negligence, like trying to cure choking by shoving a pork chop down her throat to clear it... You know, completely insane "helping." And let's just say it was legally required for the Club to call 911, why didn't anyone else??? What's wrong with people? Seriously? I can guarantee at least a handful of people in that place were already on the phone anyway.
i'm thinking panic may have played a part in the lack of 911 calls, at least on the part of the staff. i know i'd be horribly freaked out if i were serving a choking customer.
it's really easy to monday-morning quarterback about when to call 911 (pre or post heimlich)- even highly trained professionals (and I am one myself) who find themselves in a situation like this (community-based emergency, rather than the hospital) are going to act on instinct, and if your first instinct is to help, you know what you're doing, and you do it diligently (even a perfectly performed heimlich can fail), you're faultless.
Of course, I guess we dont' know how long they waited to call 911 after the heimlich failed. maybe they laid her on the ground, walked away, had a smoke and a diet coke, and then called. then, yeah, sue the bastards. But seriously, the difference between the two probably had nothing to do with her death.
Having said that, doing nothing would not have prevented this lawsuit, since they don't allege that harm was caused by the maneuver, but that the restaurant didn't practice due diligence- if everyone else stood around whistling and staring at the ceiling, they'd be getting sued for that. The problem with this lawsuit is that it accuses ordinary human beings, faced with a life-threatening emergency and doing the best they can to respond, are STILL not doing enough. And again, I can see how someone would feel that way in their grief, but to respond to those feelings as if they are rational is reprehensible.
K, all good points. I want to clarify that when I said 911 should be called immediately, I don't mean the person doing the Heimlich should be the one to call, and/or should wait to help. But I do mean no one should wait for the Heimlich to fail to call 911. They can be done concurrently!
Call me crass, but how well did she chew her food? Was she talking or otherwise distracted whilst doing so? Will anyone ask these questions in court? Nope. It's bullshit. These people see their opportunity to make someone else pay, knowing that no one will ask them tough questions. And if someone does ask tough questions, they know, for one, it's unlikely that anyone could testify that she was inhaling her food whole, and for two that a jury would be horrified at the "heartless" line of questioning. If this asshole wins, every restaurant will probably need to certify it's entire staff in CPR, knowing that if they don't their insurance premiums are going to skyrocket.
"Even if a person giving CPR breaks a rib, so what?"
Uh, this may be kind of nitty, but if CPR is done properly, you should be breaking ALL of the patient's ribs.
Kleinstadt,
It's been quite a long time since I was CPR certified, so it's quite possible for the procedure to have changed, but I was taught that ribs certainly *can* be broken, and often are during CPR, but the object is not to break *all* the ribs, and proper CPR compressions can be done at the appropriate depth without breaking any ribs... But again, it's been years since I've been certified and would definitely not be able to give anyone CPR now.
Doctors in the house, what's the case on broken ribs?
Having coordinated events at the Chicago Yacht Club, I can tell you that the layout is a nightmare. It is more than possible that the waiter was nowhere near any person in a management roll before he/she started performing CPR.
The fact of the matter is, if you see a person choking, I would think your first response should be to help, and while helping, yell for someone to call 911. I don't think the person who is actively trying to save a life should be on the hook if someone else didn't call.
The whole thing is ridiculous and one can only hope the suit is thrown out. Grief may explain why the person brought the suit (trying to be generous and not assume greed when someone lost a loved one), but the lawyer who took the case is truly a piece of work. This is the type of lawyer that gives all lawyers a very bad rap.
Doctor in the house here. I was told that in order to get good compressions, you should probably plan on breaking all the ribs. Although, this is likely the case only for 70 year olds, which entirely comprise the dozens of patients on which I've performed CPR. May be different for a 30 year old.
So I should amend my former statement.
It is always an eerie feeling that I've never gotten used to. . .
This is horse shit... I used to work at a bar-b-que joint and one time, while working in the front of the house, an older gentleman that I had sat came slowly shuffling toward the front doors. I thought he was looking for the bathroom as the layout was weird and people came walking by looking for it often but as soon as I realized he was choking, I immediately started performing the Heimlich maneuver (or at least, how I thought how to do it) and within a minute he coughed up a big rib tip. I will tell you that if someone is in trouble right in front of you and your first reaction is NOT to help them, then something is wrong with you. It was just a gut reaction and it was clear to me that there was only one thing to do. And guess what, no one called 911 at first for a couple of reasons. One, when someone is standing in front of you making “I’m choking” motions, trying to gasp for air while their face is turning purple, its not something you see everyday (at least I don’t) and you don’t really have time to think the situation out. Two, believe it or not, it is quite the spectacle to randomly out of nowhere see someone giving a random stranger the Heimlich. Like the situation at the Yacht Club, 911 was eventually called (although in my situation everything turned out OK) but in the heat of the moment, you cant blame someone for doing what they thought was the right thing to do…