Here's another one where both the trial court and the Court of Appeal seem to me to have the right take; this time, in dismissing a lawsuit on summary judgment:
"Marites Murphy sued the City of Petaluma and fire department paramedics Jude Prokop and Shay Burke for medical negligence after the two paramedics responded to the scene of a head-on automobile collision in which Murphy was involved. As we shall discuss, the distinctive feature of this case is that Murphy repeatedly told the paramedics she was not injured and did not want or need medical assistance, and she said so even after being warned she might have suffered a serious injury that was not yet symptomatic and being urged to accept transport to a hospital for examination by a physician. Accordingly, after concluding Murphy had the capacity to refuse medical treatment, the paramedics left the scene. Unfortunately, hours later, Murphy suffered a serious debilitating stroke attributable to a hypertensive crisis triggered by the collision. She subsequently filed this lawsuit alleging the paramedics owed her a duty of care, which they breached through gross negligence, to assess her medical condition and to arrange transport to a hospital. The trial court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, ruling the paramedics did not assume a duty of care to provide Murphy with the medical assistance she claims was owed. We affirm."
I feel incredibly bad for Ms. Murphy, of course. But I agree with the Court of Appeal and the trial court that the paramedics did all that they were legally required to do. Ms. Murphy was competent at the time. She could -- and did -- refuse medical treatment. She had that right. If that's your choice, not only do the paramedics have no "duty" to conduct further medical tests, they also affirmatively have no right or legal ability to do so. When someone competent says "I'm fine, leave me alone," that's the end of the matter. Leave 'em alone.
I was reminded when reading this case of my own personal experience on this front. I was riding my bike home from work several years ago when I was hit by a car. Many ribs were broken, I could tell my left lung was punctured, I had trouble breathing, etc. It was a serious. But I was wearing a helmet and knew that I hadn't hit my head. The paramedics show showed up -- quite rapidly, I might add; thank you for that, as well as the resulting morphine -- and understandably wanted to place me in a cervical collar, but when they did so, I had a much harder time breathing. So I told them to take it off; that I was certain that I had not hit my head and that my neck was fine. They repeatedly said: "Are you sure?" and I responded that I was, so they never put me in the thing.
That's exactly how that event should have gone down, and everything was fine. Were the law other than as articulated in this opinion, people might well be subjected to medical interventions that they do not want. We don't do that. (Not generally, anyway.) The downside of that legal regime is that, sometimes, perhaps a as here, people get injured in a way they didn't anticipate. That's a real harm, to be sure. But we are about autonomy. Deeply. Sometimes you get to choose to do things that are unwise, or even that affirmatively may cause you harm.
As here.
The upsides are worth the downsides. I'm glad the Court of Appeal agrees.
