What if I injure the casualty?
A person who administers First Aid will only be liable for damages if negligent intervention directly causes injury which would not otherwise have occurred, or if it exacerbates an injury.
If First Aid is administered inappropriately or negligently and a consequential injury can be proved to have arisen from that procedure, a First Aider may be held liable for substantial damages if the standard of care he employed fell below that which could be expected of him in the given circumstances. This applies whether they are a healthcare professional, a non-professional volunteer first-aider, or simply an unskilled member of the general public.
For example, if a person inappropriately administered chest compressions where a casualty was not in cardiac arrest, which caused damage to the chest wall or underlying organs, they would be causing damage which would not otherwise have been suffered and, given that the casualty was not in need of emergency resuscitation, would by his intervention be leaving them in a worse position.
If, however, CPR is performed on a casualty in cardiac arrest, It is difficult to see how a persons intervention could leave someone worse off since a victim would, without immediate resuscitation, certainly die. Furthermore, if an AED is being used, it will only permit the administration of a defibrillatory shock when it detects a shockable rhythm and, since patients in this state are clinically dead, it is unlikely that any intervention with this device could make the situation worse.
