Civil legal aspects of remote consulting in the event of a hazardous chemical incident: the good Samaritan law | Ukrainian Medical Journal

In Ukraine, in the absence of specialized toxicological centers, advisory assistance in cases of chemical incidents is provided by specialists of the operational and dispatching service of emergency and disaster medicine centers. Today, in some countries around the world, the dispatch service uses the provisions of the good Samaritan law. The purpose of the study — analysis of the experience of individual countries in the field of telephone communication about a dangerous chemical incident on the basis of the good Samaritan law. Research methods: content-analysis, comparative analysis. The results. At the beginning of 2020, the network of toxicological advisory centers in the world was represented by 313 institutions in >150 countries. Over the last 20 years, the centers have been increasing the demand for telephone consultations, internet resources, in particular in social networks that contain information about potential poisons (drugs, alcohol, drugs, pesticides and agrochemicals, household chemicals, etc.). An important aspect in the communication between operator and subscriber is the civil liability for reporting an incident involving hazardous chemicals (narcotic, toxic, explosive, etc.), which is provided by the good Samaritan law. The article demonstrate data on the positive results of the implementation of the law to the emergency services of the USA and other countries. Conclusions. Legal consolidation of the principles of providing consultative medical care under the good Samaritan law allows saving many lives from premature death in many countries around the world, so the implementation of these provisions in Ukrainian legislation in the field of health care is a topical issue for relevant ministries and medical professional associations.

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