Regulation Information
  
            Good Samaritan laws
            Many employers have employee volunteers who are willing to render 
            first aid to those in need should a workplace incident occur. In 
            such situations, employers are often concerned with liability 
            issues. In these cases, there is generally the absence of a 
            contractual, special professional, or trustee relationship or 
            statutory requirement; and the person rendering aid is not under a 
            legal duty to assist or care for the injured. This means that those 
            employee volunteers—unlike those such as traditional medical 
            doctors—do not have a legal obligation to treat people. These are 
            the folks that are generally protected by “Good Samaritan” laws.
            The “Good Samaritan” doctrine is a legal principle that prevents a 
            rescuer who has voluntarily helped a victim in distress from being 
            successfully sued for “wrongdoing.” The purpose of such laws is to 
            keep people from being reluctant to help a stranger who needs 
            assistance for fear of possible legal repercussions, in the event 
            that a mistake in treatment is made inadvertently by the rescuer. 
            The Good Samaritan doctrine was primarily developed for first aid 
            situations. 

            The basic standard is as follows:
            “Any person who, in good faith, renders emergency medical care or 
            assistance to an injured person at the scene of an accident or other 
            emergency without the expectation of receiving or intending to 
            receive compensation from such injured person for such service, 
            shall not be liable in civil damages for any act or omission, not 
            constituting gross negligence, in the course of such care or 
            assistance.”

            There are some things to consider when it comes to the legal aspects 
            of rendering first aid. An obvious one is that people should not act 
            in ways that can be deemed under the definition of gross negligence. 
            They should also not try to provide help that is beyond the scope of 
            their training. Another is that once someone begins to render first 
            aid to a victim, they are not to abandon the victim. They must 
            continue until they can no longer supply aid, or until other help 
            arrives and relieves them.

            In 2000, the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act was signed into law. This 
            law specifically protects those who use automated external 
            defibrillators on a victim from civil liability. Again the user must 
            not cause harm by gross negligence, along with willful or criminal 
            or reckless misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the 
            rights or safety of the victim.

            Every state has its own adaptation of the Good Samaritan legal 
            doctrine. Most states declare that the recipient of the aid must not 
            object to the receipt of the aid, but need not consent. Some states 
            have Good Samaritan laws that apply to all citizens. Other states 
            have Good Samaritan laws written specifically for physicians. For 
            more information about the state laws, look under State Information.