Harris v. Soha
15 So. 3d 767 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) (July)
A man died while in the hospital, and his wife brought suit against an anesthesiologist who she alleged failed to take actions that could have prevented her husband’s death. The trial court granted the anesthesiologist’s motion for a directed verdict, finding in part that section 768.13(2) (c)(1) (the “Good Samaritan” Act) applied. At the time of the husband’s death, the anesthesiologist had gone to the emergency room to voluntarily administer an epidural to a woman in labor. The Good Samaritan Act states that a health care practitioner who is “attending to a patient of his or her practice” and who “voluntarily responds” to a person outside of that practice will not be held liable for such treatment. The district court upheld this ruling on appeal. The wife argued that this act should not apply to anesthesiologists since they do not have patients of their own, per se. The district court opined that exclusion of anesthesiologists from the protections afforded by that Act would be arbitrary and held that the Act applied to this situation.