Does the Law Have a Heart?

femida1I was watching a show on TLC where in one of the episodes a husband was rushing his wife to the hospital; she was having delivery pains but had no idea she was pregnant, so obviously both were horrified. Somewhere along the way police started chasing them but the husband refused to stop until he arrived at the hospital. For all he knew, his wife was dying, she was screaming in pain, sweating, etc. Then there is this story from Boston, where a couple on their way to the hospital to deliver a baby was delayed and cited for driving in a wrong lane.

My question is: in a critical situation when a person has an urgent, legitimate and provable need to get to a hospital will the law be understanding? What’s better – to keep driving and ignore the sirens or to stop and try to explain? What if every minute is critical?

On a lesser scale, what if any delay will almost definitely result in a certain accident? Once I had to race home when my kid was that close to having one, on another occasion an adult passenger in my car had to urgently find a restroom and I had to speed up in order to save my vehicle from being ruined. What would police say if you lead them to your house and run to the toilet?

I know at least two real life lawyers who read this and a few home-grown ones with lots of armchair experience. What should a person do?