Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-L] real-world physics



That's not strictly true. As an AHA CPR Instructor and former EMT, I can tell you that you CAN be sued. IF you can show that you performed to your level of training, and acted in good faith, the judge will likely accept the invocation of the "good samaritan law" and throw the case out. The rigor of "proving" those two conditions often depends upon the judge.

Peter Schoch

On Jun 5, 2012, at 10:35 PM, Marty Weiss wrote:

regarding being sued for helping... that's not true... the "good samaritan laws" protect anyone trying to help the victims of accidents or crimes from being sued.
On Jun 5, 2012, at 10:17 PM, Kirk Bailey wrote:

Hi John,

Here are a couple of real world problems, open-ended, with a number of
variables and perhaps not even a correct answer.

I have wondered what other options the people caught in the upper stories
on 9-11 had. We don't know for sure what other plans were in the works,
but most of them appeared to go up to the roof and hope for rescue. When
it finally became a choice of burn or jump, many jumped.

This is the problem I propose. Every office in the world has so many
electrical cords that lowering ropes could be constructed from them for
rescues from high rise burning buildings. The ropes would have to be long
enough to get below the fire, hopefully on a side with no flames.

What is the tensile strength of an electric cord? How many would need to
be placed in parallel or wound together to make a usable rope? What knot
is best to connect the cords end to end? How difficult would it be to
break a window from the outside in order to get in below the fire? What
readily available tool would be best for the job? Would it be best to soak
your clothes in water first? What sort of tether could be made in case
your hands slipped off the rope? Are there other better options (makeshift
parachutes, etc.)?

Here is another, much more common problem and one that we might all expect
to face at least once.

You are the first car on the scene of an auto accident and there are people
trapped inside one of the cars. Their car is still in the road. It is on
fire.

What is your plan to help them? Prioritize these actions. Note that call
911 is first in all cases, and I believe most people know it. It is all
the actions that follow that need sequencing.
a.) call 911 and then go to their car and look to see if you can pull them
out without use of a tool.
b.) call 911 and wait for the firemen, policemen, and ambulance.
c.) call 911 and ask for instructions.
d.) call 911 and place your car in their traffic lane with your lights and
blinkers on.
e.) call 911 and get your tool kit from your trunk. Proceed to their car
to open it up so the people in it can be pulled free.
f.) call 911 and get your fire extinguisher to put out the fire.
g.) call 911 and then go to their car to try to talk to them to find out
who is injured and who is panic stricken.
h.) call 911 and then put out flares to warn oncoming traffic.

Remember, good samaritans are frequently sued when their effort to help
causes harm. Do you know enough to help without harming someone
medically? When doesn't it matter?

The science questions for this problem: What tools should you have in
your trunk for this scenario and for anything else you might reasonably
encounter? Could normal tools be expected to be useful here? Is the fire
extinguisher you need in your car for gas fire the same as the one in your
home? How many and what type flares should you carry? Are they dangerous
in your trunk in case you have an accident?

Hell, John, there is physics in damn near everything, so making a real
world problem without physics would be much more daunting. I doubt if
these are the type of real world problems you wanted, but they are the type
that should be discussed in school somewhere.
On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 6:12 PM, Anthony Lapinski
<Anthony_Lapinski@pds.org>wrote:


_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@mail.phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l