Today’s correspondent is

… an Intensive Care Paramedic working with St John NT. I am also a licensed Security Officer in the Northern Territory.

Recently at an event, working as a Security Officer, I applied first aid to an individual whom I believed to have significant injuries. I also called 000 to request an ambulance and after Paramedics arrived on scene I handed clinical responsibility to the patient to them.

After the Paramedics had departed scene, I had one of the Paramedic Coordinators call me on my personal Mobile (as I was known to them), interrogating me with multiple questions related to my role as a Security Officer at this event.

I would like to ask two questions related to my dual qualifications please.

1. As an AHPRA registered Paramedic, do I have an obligation/requirement or Duty of Care to attend to patients if I am not working on an ambulance shift (specifically within the Northern Territory?)

2. As a Security Officer licensed within the Northern Territory, do I also have an obligation/requirement or Duty of Care to attend to patients requiring first aid (specifically within the Northern Territory?)

I am trying to get some clarity on whether I may or may not have obligations/requirements or Duty of Care when working outside of a Jurisdictional Ambulance Service.

I have previously written on security guards and first aid – see:

When we talk about ‘duty of care’ we usually mean a common law duty to take reasonable care in all the circumstances. A failure to meet that duty can lead to an obligation to pay civil damages, ie compensation for damage that is not too remote. Before looking at that however, there is a unique provision in the Northern Territory that must be borne in mind. The Criminal Code (NT) s 155 says:

Any person who, being able to provide rescue, resuscitation, medical treatment, first aid or succour of any kind to a person urgently in need of it and whose life may be endangered if it is not provided, callously fails to do so is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for 7 years.

That imposes a duty on a paramedic, security guard, police officer (see NT police officer gaoled for failing to render assistance (October 31, 2016)) and anyone else to provide assistance at least where the situation is urgent and life threatening.

If we talk about civil liability there is no duty to rescue.  An off duty paramedic has no duty to render assistance to a stranger – see Paramedics off duty (July 19, 2021). If a paramedic does assist, he or she could expect to have the benefit of the good Samaritan provisions contained in the Personal Injuries (Liabilities and Damages) Act 2003 (NT) s 8.  The section says, ‘A good Samaritan does not incur personal civil liability for a personal injury caused by an act done in good faith and without recklessness while giving emergency assistance to a person’ (s 8(1)). Relevantly a ‘good Samaritan’ is ;a person who, acting without expectation of payment or other consideration, comes to the aid of a person who is apparently in need of emergency assistance’ (s 8(4)).

 That does not mean that there may not be professional issues for a paramedic if it was felt that his or her conduct in all the circumstances, was less than should and could be expected from a paramedic of similar qualification and experience (see Doctors as ‘good Samaritans’ – do I have to stop? (March 23, 2014) and Further legal ruling affecting ‘Doctors as ‘good Samaritans’ – do I have to stop?’ (January 3, 2015).

In the Northern Territory the answer to question 1 is yes you have a legal duty to assist at least where assistance is required as a matter of urgency to save a life and the failure to do so is a criminal offence.  As a matter of civil law there is no duty to render assistance but there could, depending on the circumstances, be issues of professional expectations to consider.

As for question 2 the criminal provisions continue to apply.  A security guard per se has no duty to assist a stranger, but a security guard may well have a duty to assist a person at an event or place where they are engaged as a security guard. That would in turn depend on exactly what they are being employed to do and what their duties are.  If they are at an event and there is a contracted first aid service, then the duty of the security guard may be to ensure the security of the scene to allow others to provide first aid.  But as noted in earlier posts, often security teams are also identified as first aid teams.  I would think at an event security have an obligation to protect the patrons and that would mean rendering first aid to the best of their ability.

That does not mean a paramedic security guard has to provide the sort of care he or she would if they were at work with an equipped intensive care ambulance.  The patient is entitled to expect the level of care that they would get from a ‘reasonable’ security guard not the best qualified guard and a paramedic can only do what they can do with what they have to hand. And on the days their working as a security guard they won’t have their paramedic tools of trade with them.  All they can do is their best in the circumstances.

A security guard could not rely on the good Samaritan provisions. The security guard is paid to be there and to render some assistance to patrons.

Conclusion

In the Northern Territory everyone has a duty ‘to provide rescue, resuscitation, medical treatment, first aid or succour of any kind to a person urgently in need of it and whose life may be endangered if it is not provided’ and that duty is enforced by the criminal law.

There is no common law duty to come to the aid of a stranger.

A health professional may be under a professional obligation to render assistance.  It would depend on the view of the profession as to what can and should be reasonably expected from a similarly qualified and experienced member of the profession. 

A security guard does not owe a duty of care to a stranger but they do to people who are at an event where they have been engaged to provide security.  Exactly what that requires would depend on all the circumstances and the terms of the engagement but I would expect that it does include a duty to provide first aid to an injured patron.

This blog is a general discussion of legal principles only.  It is not legal advice. Do not rely on the information here to make decisions regarding your legal position or to make decisions that affect your legal rights or responsibilities. For advice on your particular circumstances always consult an admitted legal practitioner in your state or territory.