John,

Interesting discussion, the laws may be different in PA than CT. In CT malpractise is not an available remedy if the situation was without payment as in offering assistance at an accident scene or as you said in a rest. In that case the Doctor may be held liable for negligence and his level of care for constituting negligence may be higher than a lay person offering the same intervention, however he is not held to the same standard that he would be if he were in his official practice. The law was passed in CT to create a situation wehre doctors and nurses would be more willing to offer their assistance at these very situations after it became known that situation were occuring where they did not offer to assist due to the liability exposure without their employer's insurance protection coverage (that is they ouwld have been acting outside of their job).

I was aware, although it may no longer be true, that in the past some states actually ahd laws on the books that made it a crime for a health care professional to NOT offer assistance at an emergency situation.