"Good Samaritans get no aid from high court"

In an article published in the Los Angeles Times, the California Supreme Court ruled that a young woman who pulled a co-worker from a mangled vehicle could be held civilly liable because she did not provide professional medical care. The co-worker, now paralyzed due to the defendant's improper care of the plaintiff's injuries, sued the vehicle's driver and the young woman for negligence. According to Good Samaritan statues, the law shelters health-care providers from lawsuits for "injuries they cause despite acting with reasonable care." Not only was the young woman not a health-care professional, but also she did not act with reasonable care when assisting her co-worker. Despite the young woman's belief of the car's impending explosion, she will not be immune from the liability rendered by her actions.

article: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/19/local/me-good-samaritan19