Thomas Kroger runs Kroger Law Offices in Morgantown, West Virginia, and has been practicing law in West Virginia for over four years. Kroger’s areas of interest include criminal defense, DUIs, divorce and family law, and child custody cases. Though he practices law with a focus on the more practical, day-to-day aspects of the system, attorney Kroger is also a student of more unusual and less discussed laws and practices. In the following article, attorney Kroger outlines a little bit on the Good Samaritan law; a law that every citizen should know, as it applies to all of us.
Where does this term come from and what does it mean?
Everyone knows the term “Good Samaritan,” but actually, the term has its roots in a biblical parable. The story goes that a man is attacked by bandits who beat him, rob him and leave him for dead on the roadside. The passers-by ignore him until a man ( a Samaritan) sees him and takes pity on him. He dresses the wounded man’s injuries and takes him on his own donkey to an inn where he pays the innkeeper to look after him until he heals. In the Bible, the story is meant to illustrate the concept of what is meant by a good neighbor.
However, “Good Samaritan” and the laws of the same name mean something else entirely in American law. In the United States, where lawsuits for everything are common, the Good Samaritan laws exist to protect someone who aids in another’s rescue from being sued for wrongdoing. The law was developed in order to ensure that rescuers and bystanders could aid in helping others in trouble, without the fear of being sued. Primarily this law exists for rescue and first aid workers, and some version of it exists in all 50 states. At its core, the law exists to protect a rescue worker who negligently injures someone he or she is attempting to rescue. But, like most laws, there are many gray areas regarding how it is implemented. For instance, there is a clause that says that the rescue must be reasonable and necessary. In other words, if someone is injured during a rescue that is deemed unreasonable or unnecessary by a court, then the rescue worker is, in fact, accountable and can be held liable for the injuries of the very person he had rescued.
What exactly qualifies the rescue as unreasonable?
Well, if the victim was not actually in imminent danger and was injured further by the rescuer’s actions, something like that might qualify as an unreasonable rescue. A good example of this is in the case of a car accident where the victim’s injuries have been exacerbated from being moved unnecessarily and the condition of the injured party worsened due to the rescue worker’s efforts. In this case, the rescue worker could be held liable. Another similar example is a rescue worker who attempts to treat non life-threatening injury and actually creates an injury in the process, like splinting broken bones, where the victim must be moved, thus risking an open fracture.
What do the Good Samaritan laws mean to an ordinary person?
A regular person isn’t obligated to do first aid if they encounter an injured party. However, you could be held negligent in some states if you simply ignored them and didn’t bother to call for help. Anything beyond picking up a phone though is entirely voluntary, and the average citizen is never required to attempt to give first aid or CPR. However, if someone has begun to good naturedly provide first aid to an injured party, he must follow through and continue to do so until the victim recovers or a professional takes over. Stopping midway through could otherwise be deemed unreasonable, and even an ordinary citizen could be held liable in such a case. Basically, the main distinction when assessing the Good Samaritan law is whether or not the rescuing party is professional or simply a passerby. Ordinary people are exempt from having to help, and they are not held accountable when further injuries are sustained as a result of their help. The general understanding of the Good Samaritan Laws these days is that you should not really try and get involved when you see an injury, but rather call a professional and wait for help. However, if you have training in first aid and feel that you might be of use, get involved. You can never be held accountable for doing so.
