Can a podiatrist respond to an emergency situation?

[DrRicky23]

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As I continue to investigate MD vs. DPM, I thought of another question. I am now fully convinced that the podiatric curriculum, training, residency, and field of work aligns VERY closely with that of MDs and DOs. After all, they get full prescribing rights, which is proof enough that the DPM receives general medical knowledge apart from their lower extremity specialty. BUT, can a podiatrist legally respond to an emergency situation? For example, suppose someone calls out for a doctor on a plane b/c a passenger stops breathing. If a podiatrist steps in to try an save the life, will that create legal ramifications? As podiatrists, would you feel comfortable enough in your knowledge to respond to the infamous "I need a doctor" shout-out being that very few of those cases will a desperate cry for help with a foot or ankle issue? Thanks.

 

[AttackNME]

I think in that situation, anyone who helps is protected under good samaritan law right? Podiatrists are on-call at emergency rooms usually for things like gangrene and cellulitis but not for cardiac arrest obviously

 

[DancerPod]

I think at this point I would feel comfortable saying "I'm a medical student!" if no doctor was present. I have been CPR certified, I can operate an AED with confidence, and all of our classes so far have been on the entire system. I can take a pulse, listen for breathing, even have a decent idea of what artery or veins might be damaged and what to do if the "patient" was bleeding out. I know what signs to look for (and what to try in a true emergency) in the case of an acute epidural hematoma (though I'd rather not), and I've performed a cricothyrotomy on a cadaver. Now would I rather leave it up to an experienced trauma surgeon? Absolutely. But I feel confident that I would do more harm than good in a life-threatening situation with no one else around. We do go through emergency room rotations, and you can't just say "Nope, not the feet, not helping with that guy!"

It would be interesting to hear the opinion of a working Podiatrist, but I would venture a guess that we would be pretty comparable in a true emergency to another specialist that primarily worked in a private office. If you are in real trouble you probably won't turn away a podiatrist anymore than you would turn away a proctologist or a plastic surgeon who only does facelifts. We all have basic medical training. I'd guess the primary differences beyond that would be the actual real life experiences.

 

[347932]

Technically, anyone can respond to an emergency medical situation regardless of training. It's more a matter of the aftermath of that intervention. Patient survives, who cares who helped. No physician around, it doesn't really matter. Podiatrist intervenes and patient lives, no one asks any questions, truthfully.

Patient dies or becomes impaired, NOW there is a major issue. The Good Samaritan Law doesn't prevent a civil suit. Will you get your license yanked? Probably not, as the patient would have died anyway your intervention. The situation is further complicated if you prevent another, more qualified person, to handle the case, IF they identified themselves to you.

I personally don't care what the laws say. If someone is choking to death, I'm going to try and help them and preserve life. If I know I'm out of my league, I will do whatever I can until someone who CAN help shows up. That's just me.

As a resident on a rotation in the ED you are protected. A few situations like that came up when I was a resident on rotation in the ED, and you are covered 100%. No worries about that.

 

[that1guyfromFL]

There was actually a thread about this a year or two ago.

I found it really interesting at the time, a search might turn up some good reading. 👍

 

[dtrack22]

Ask and you shall receive

Emergency Care

 

[that1guyfromFL]

Or in this case, don't ask and receive anyway. Just the way I like it.


You are too good to me dtrack.

 

[dtrack22]

I aim to please...?