Caps & Immunities
Maryland Orthopedics, P.A. Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeons
Ellicott City ♦ 3570 St. Johns Lane 410-461-9500 Laurel ♦ 545 Main Street 301-776-2000
Owings Mills ♦ Physicians Pavillion, 10085 Red Run Blvd. 410-363-0777 Frederick ♦ 75 Thomas Johnson Drive 301-663-0009 WHEN QUALITY COUNTS
At Maryland Orthopedics PA, our physicians and staff pride themselves on their expertise with Personal Injury cases and work-related injuries covered under Worker’s Compensation. We understand the special challenges presented by industrial injuries and can provide many services such as x-ray, medications, neurological testing and physical therapy in house.
Most Appointments within 24 Hours Monday-Friday
Raymond D. Drapkin, M.D. William J. Launder, M.D. Kevin E. McGovern, M.D.
Michael A. Franchetti, M.D. Mark A. Cohen, M.D. Susan J. Liu, M.D.
Arthur E. Kurlanzik, M.D. ♦ Neurological Services In recent years, the General Assembly considered
legislation to extend Good Samaritan immunity to add an explicit immunity for individuals who provide or use an automated electronic defibrillator (“AED”) in the context of a “sudden cardiac arrest emergency.”13
Laudable though it may
be, such legislation begs the questions of what would follow in its wake – do we also need immunity for individuals who use fire extinguishers to put out fires? – and why the already- existing Good Samaritan immunity statute14
is insufficient? Proponents of legislation to extend Good Samaritan
immunity emphasize the social utility of the conduct at issue and, for example, there can be no doubt that providing and/ or using AEDs is socially valuable. However, what about thousands of defective AEDs, including four separate Class I recalls issued by the FDA in twelve months between July 31, 2008 and July 31, 2009?15
Tere is significantly less social
utility in providing defective AEDs for public use. One reasonably may ask, however, why the Maryland
public should not just simply grant immunity first and then 13 See, e.g., 2009 HB 1117; 2008 HB 1134; 2008 SB 579. Te 2008 bills were enacted after the immunity provisions were stripped out; 2009 HB 1117 passed the House of Delegates by a final vote of 113-1.
14 Md. Cts. & Jud. Procs. Code Ann. § 5-603. 15 Class I are the most serious, involving a reasonable probability that use of the product will cause serious injury or death. Te FDA Class I recalls between July 2008 and July 2009 were for Physio Control LifePak CR Plus, Aug. 2008; Welch Allyn AED-10, Dec. 2008; Zoll AED Plus, Feb. 2009; and Physio Control LifePak CR Plus, July 2009.
18 Trial Reporter / Spring 2011
trust that Good Samaritan-types who provide AEDs (or restrooms or donated food or any other socially valuable service) will behave with reasonable care? Te answer to that question lies in the purpose of immunity statutes to shield individuals from liability. If the individuals whose conduct is being immunized were always careful, then there would be no need for an immunity statute in the first place. Immunity statutes exist solely to shield a person from liability when his or her negligent conduct injures another person. Moreover, in any given case involving a Legislative grant
of immunity, it is likely that many people would undertake the socially valuable actions even in the absence of a statute that shields them from liability. Tose folks don’t need immunity to “do the right thing.” Likewise, many people doubtless would not take such benevolent action, even if there were no risk of liability whatsoever. Extending Good Samaritan immunity will not change the conduct of such people in any way at all. Te only justification for extending Good Samaritan
immunity, therefore, is that there are people in the middle, whose conduct would be measurably different if only an immunity statute were enacted. As a practical matter, however, there is no data to support the proposition that
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