Legal Considerations

image of one person helping another in need All states have enacted Good Samaritan laws. These laws give legal protection to people who willingly provide emergency care to ill or injured persons without accepting anything in return.

When a citizen responds to an emergency and acts as a reasonable and prudent person would under the same conditions, Good Samaritan immunity generally prevails. This legal immunity protects you, as a citizen responder, from being sued and found financially responsible for the victim's injury.

The idea behind these laws is to encourage people to help others in emergencies. So what does a reasonable and prudent person do in an emergency? General guidelines state that they would:

Move a person only if the person's life were in danger
Obtain consent (permission to give care, given by the victim to the rescuer) from a conscious person
Check for and give care for life-threatening conditions first
Call 9-1-1

Continue to give care until medical personnel arrive. Victims have the right to refuse care or determine what can and cannot be done to them. It is important that you first obtain consent before giving care. This involves telling the conscious victim who you are, the level of training you have had, what you believe to be wrong and how you intend to treat them. You must also ask their permission. This is known as expressed consent. It is imperative that you abide by their wishes. If they refuse treatment or ask you to stop at any time, you should step away and wait for advanced medical professionals to arrive.

What about if the victim is unconscious or otherwise unable to give expressed consent? For these cases, it is assumed that if the victim could respond, consent would be given and they would agree to care. This is known as implied consent (Legal concept that assumes a person would consent to receive emergency care if he or she were physically able to).

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