Does (or should) the National Guard provide medical treatment during state of emergency?

Actually, having been in a flight medic unit and a ground medic unit during state emergency's I can say that while we respond, we tend to do more evacuation than actual medical treatment. We treat the Soldiers who are injured or ill during these operations but as for civilians, there seems to always be a lot of hesitancy in allowing us to perform medical procedures on the civilians; liability, being sued, and risk due to different methods in treatment in general. Life or death, we may do what is necessary to sustain, but beyond that, I have often been shocked myself by what little medical care we are allowed to provide when we aren't deployed or on a military post. Even then, while in Garrison, your job and role is diminished significantly. Granted, the Army now sends flight medics to receive their official Paramedic certification, and that may have opened up
Some opportunity, but I, would still believe it would depend on receiving your state license and actively working in that role in the civilian sector; definitely something worth exploring as an additional effort and service to provide if the money is going to be spent mobilizing us.

BLUF: Life, Limb, and eyesight emergency care of Soldiers only. No authority to transport in any capacity or to provide anything other than the immediate emergency care of the Soldier.

We are currently on State Active Duty call out for the potential flooding in South Texas. The State's medical proponent is the Office of the State Surgeon and as such sets the medical protocols, albeit overly vague and generalized, used by 68W personnel on SAD missions. On whole, 68W medical protocols in the NG is a whack-a-mole guessing game with little to no proponent understanding or support. Try to Google 68W protocols and you'll see my pain, zilch.

In Texas (I'd highly recommend searching your State's EMS code) patients*, both civilian and Soldier, cannot be transported in a vehicle that is not a State TDSHS (EMS) certified ambulance that is attended by a State certified EMT or higher qualified person. One could not fathom the endless IPRs I've attended having to answer the question, Why not? The answer is always, I intend to keep my credentials and for my medics to keep theirs. EMT vs. paramedic has no bearing on the argument. If fact, paramedics have more to lose. *A patient is anyone for whom a patient/provider relationship has been established. If you've rendered care as s NREMT then you've established that relationship and are subject to the laws of negligence and abandonment until you transfer patient care to an equally or higher qualified/credentialed provider.

Prehospital medical care is protocol driven and liability focused. All of our actions eventually rest upon a medical provider's license. Without home grown protocols that a licensed physician has signed off on and carries the liabilies for, the 68W is rendered an educated combat lifesaver at best. There's not one BDE Surgeon in the State of Texas that I know of who has created protocols for their medics; for garrison, AT, SAD missions, or otherwise. Yet if I render care to a civilian or Soldier in any duty status and the outcome is poor, who carries that liability? My paramedic license and years of EMS experience know better. When my license is revoked, so to is my Army career.

Ugh...sorry, I went into a diatribe.

Yes there's the risk of being sued so you basically have to trust you're own judgment damn if you and damn if you don't if you do you take the risk of being sued if you don't you're blamed for not providing any medical support.