in new york, anyway, it's the other way around. Here are the examples we were given in EMT training:
If you're an off duty cop at a convenience store getting a slurpee at 3 AM, and the guy in line in front of you robs the place, and all you do is stand there, you are (potentially) liable. In practice, enforcement is pretty lenient here, especially if you don't have a service weapon on you, but you're legally required to make at least a token effort.
If you're an EMT in the hypothetical 7/11 with your slurpee and not on shift (or, i believe, in uniform) and the guy in front of you keels over from a massive heart attack, you can stand there and watch him die and nobody can touch you. IF you touch him (and start chest compressions or whatever), now you can't leave until you hand him off to an ambulance crew or someone more medically qualified than you. If you _are_ on shift, you must act no matter what.
There are additional complications for volunteer EMTs versus paid EMTs that don't pertain here but relate to at which points which legal statutes cover you or don't.
If you're an off duty cop at a convenience store getting a slurpee at 3 AM, and the guy in line in front of you robs the place, and all you do is stand there, you are (potentially) liable. In practice, enforcement is pretty lenient here, especially if you don't have a service weapon on you, but you're legally required to make at least a token effort.
If you're an EMT in the hypothetical 7/11 with your slurpee and not on shift (or, i believe, in uniform) and the guy in front of you keels over from a massive heart attack, you can stand there and watch him die and nobody can touch you. IF you touch him (and start chest compressions or whatever), now you can't leave until you hand him off to an ambulance crew or someone more medically qualified than you. If you _are_ on shift, you must act no matter what.
There are additional complications for volunteer EMTs versus paid EMTs that don't pertain here but relate to at which points which legal statutes cover you or don't.