Authority to Give Directions and Cargo Security in Ambulance Services-A Critical Appraisal of the Limits of the Emergency Physicians Authority to give Directions in Regard to the Transport of Unsecured Cargo

摘要

Especially with regard to the extent of an emergency physician's authority to give directions to paramedical personnel there often is considerable uncertainty in practice in spite of an apparently clear legal situation. This appears to be a particular problem when it is no longer possible to distinguish between medical and tactical aspects, such as for example, the question of the lawfulness of an emergency physician's instruction to transport additional, unsecured medical equipment in an ambulance vehicle. In fact the relevant standards of the Highway Code with regard to cargo security also apply for the ambulance service. The responsibility for securing the load in accord with the generally accepted standards of safety lies solely with the driver. The driver is not relieved of this responsibility even when in the course of a mission he is instructed by the emergency physician to transport an unsecured load. This also applies to the use of special rights of way whereby the driver must seriously take the emergency physician's professional assessment of the necessity to transport additional unsecured equipment in order to maintain vital functions of a patient into consideration.