Gail is driving home after a very busy 12-hour shift in the cardiovascular intensive care unit. She is 5 minutes from home and is looking forward to spending the evening with friends. As she rounds a corner, she sees a multivehicle accident. She slows her car and observes a number of people rushing to help. Reassured that appropriate assistance will be provided, Gail continues home. The next day, she arrives at work to discover that she is assigned to care for one of the accident victims, a 20-year-old man who sustained serious chest trauma resulting in a tear to his aorta. Delays in the arrival of paramedics resulted in problems with early management of his airway. Now, although surgery has corrected the tear, it is unclear whether inadequate oxygenation to his brain will result in permanent brain damage. Gail feels responsible and wishes she had stopped to help.

Questions

1. Has the nurse in this scenario violated any ethical or legal standards?

2. Is there a risk of any civil or criminal liability?