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Rep. McLeod’s ‘Good Samaritan’ Bill Resumes Legislative Journey

AUGUSTA – Like a phoenix risen from the ashes, a “Good Samaritan” bill by State Rep. Everett McLeod has been resurrected in the Legislature after being killed last June.

The measure would require that anyone over age 18 who observes a person with a serious injury must immediately report the situation to police or medical emergency responders and request first aid by the quickest means possible. Injuries covered under the statute would include gunshot wounds, knife wounds and other wounds involving a substantial loss of blood. Failure to report the injury to authorities could bring penalties for negligence under cases brought by the injured party.

For the First Regular Session of the 124th Legislature, Rep. McLeod (R-Lee) introduced a nearly identical bill, LD 1258, that made violations of the law retroactive under existing statutes of limitations. The original bill was prompted by a 2005 incident in Princeton where a 27-year-old man sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen while in the trailer home of a woman described in press reports as his “on-again, off-again lover.” Instead of calling for help, the woman allegedly smoked cigarettes and drank beer while the victim slowly bled to death. He died at the Calais Regional Hospital emergency room.

LD 1258 was defeated last June 2nd in a House vote of 76-65. The vote broke mostly along party lines, although a number of Democrats voted with a solid Republican front on the losing side. The bill was declared officially dead in the Senate two days later.

Ordinarily, no defeated bill can be reintroduced in the same Legislature. But Rep. McLeod came back with LD 1738, which slightly altered the title of the bill and removed the provisions for retroactive enforcement. That bill – “An Act to Establish a Duty to Report Serious Injuries” – was cleared by legislative leaders and allowed to proceed. Rep. McLeod stressed during a Legislative Council hearing that another fatal incident had taken place in August 2009, two months after his original bill was rejected.

In that case, a Tennessee trucker collapsed in a parking lot in Lincoln and died at Penobscot Valley Hospital. Two local teenage boys, later cleared of all charges, were with him at the time; they had promised to help him buy marijuana. They failed to call for help. An autopsy later revealed that the trucker died from a heart attack, but doctors said his life could have been saved if he had been treated sooner.

A public hearing on LD 1738 is set for Feb. 4 before the Judiciary Committee.

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