Understanding Good Samaritan Laws
These days, it seems like no good deed goes unpunished--especially when it comes to helping people at the scene of a car accident. Even if one feels compelled to help the victim before police or medical help arrives, the fear of a personal injury lawsuit looms. This, in turn, begs the question: are you legally within your rights to help a car accident victim without fear of a lawsuit?
Unfortunately, this is a rather prudent question to ask oneself; personal injury lawsuits are often filed against well-meaning people and health care providers who only wanted to assist the victim. But the good news is that nearly every state has acknowledged these altruistic impulses and how they can benefit society, leading to a near nationwide passage of various Good Samaritan laws. These laws are meant to protect these well-intentioned passersby from liability when they try to help at the accident scene.
Because these laws are state-specific, though, some only protect the passersby, some only protect the licensed health care providers, and some protect both. Now we’ll dive into the particulars of these laws and how they could affect you.
Protecting Licensed Health Care Providers
For health care providers to be protected from liability under Good Samaritan laws, some states require them to voluntarily provide treatment to the victim without expecting to be paid for it. With this in mind, most statutory language that protects health care workers in these laws generally states that any licensed health care worker who administers emergency assistance or care in good faith at the scene of the accident will not be held liable, provided that no acts of omission or civil damages that stemmed from the lending of this emergency assistance or care were “grossly negligent.”
As you can see, Good Samaritan laws don’t completely safeguard health care workers in these scenarios; most make exceptions for gross negligence or willful misconduct. However, the difference between gross negligence and ordinary negligence is so blatant this it’s common sense that the former would never be tolerated under any circumstances.
Protecting Passersby and Other Non-Health Care Workers
For everyone else who isn’t a licensed health care worker, they have to prove that they reasonably believed that the victim was in dire need of life-preserving emergency care and assistance at the time of the accident, and they helped them in good faith as a result.
In some states, though, this protection only extends to passersby who are certified in first aid or other life-saving administration by an accredited institution like the Red Cross or American Heart Association. In Florida, for example, there are no restrictions on who can administer aid to victims, and even extends to the helping of drug overdose victims.
The only way you can be sure of your rights in these scenarios is to check up on your state’s Good Samaritan laws.
Clearly, you don’t have to be the at-fault driver in a car accident to be held liable; innocent bystanders who only want to help can easily get caught in the crosshairs. If you’ve been involved in a car accident where you tried to help the victim, you’ll want an experienced and professional criminal defense attorney who can help you tell your story in the courtroom. William C. Robinson is the man for the job, as he’s been successfully advocating for these Good Samaritans in court for over 30 years. To learn more about how we can help bring you to justice, call us today at 305-454-9632 to schedule your free consultation.
