GOOD-SAMARITAN LAW
good-samaritan law.A statute that exempts from liability a person (such as an off-duty
physician) who voluntarily renders aid to another in imminent danger but negligently causes
injury while rendering the aid. • Some form of good-samaritan legislation has been enacted in all
50 states and in the District of Columbia. — Also written Good Samaritan law. — Also termed
good-samaritan statute. Cf. GOOD SAMARITAN DOCTRINE. [Cases: Health 769; Negligence
- C.J.S. Negligence § 87.]
“The so-called ‘Good Samaritan Statutes’ … do not require aid to be given. They merely
encourage doctors to stop and give aid to strangers in emergency situations by providing that no
physician who in good faith renders such aid shall be liable in civil damages as a result of acts or
omissions in rendering such aid. Some states have enacted statutes that require a person who is
able to do so with no danger or peril to himself to come to the aid of another who is exposed to
grave physical harm.” Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 661 (3d ed. 1982). [Blacks Law 8th]