Letter to the Editor, Los Angeles Times, re the Good Samaritan case

To the Editors:

I read the "Good Samaritans Get No Aid from the High Court" article on December 19th., and I was initially dismayed.

I'm a General Volunteer for the City of Los Angeles and I've been thinking about this a lot...

The Court is questioning what were apparently inappropriate, unnecessary, and potentially damaging actions by the defendant Ms. Torti -- however well intentioned they may have been. And I see their point. The line between appropriate and inappropriate behavior is properly left to the courts to decide and it's correct, though unsettling, for them to examine this one.

My wife and I know what to do and what not to do to to care for an injured or ill person until the professionals arrive because we took Advanced First Aid classes a few years ago. Does this make our emergency response care 'medical' and therefore covered? I certainly hope so.

The real question here is not why the Good Samaritan laws are in jeopardy, it's why First Aid classes aren't readily available to the public and why more good citizens don't train themselves to help their families, friends, and neighbors in an emergency.

If we took emergency response training seriously, lives would be saved and these kind of injuries prevented.

If Ms. Torti had ever received even rudimentary First Aid training -- as a mandatory class in High School perhaps, she too would have known how to provide appropriate emergency care.


Jonathan Zimmerman