Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR California

The Good Samaritan: compassion and protection

Drawn from the Bible (Luke 10:25-37), the parable of the Good Samaritan tells of a traveller left for dead who is rescued by a stranger that tends to him and sees to his care. Beyond its religious context, it carries a universal message: the moral duty to help others in danger, through compassion and altruism.

Inspired by this principle, many so-called Good Samaritan laws have been enacted around the world to protect those who assist in good faith during an emergency from legal action. The exact scope of that protection, however, varies from one jurisdiction to another: here is what the law applicable to your region provides.

Statute citation

Governing act Health and Safety Code § 1799.102 (California Good Samaritan Law)
Scope of protection Any person who in good faith, and not for compensation, renders emergency medical or nonmedical care at the scene of an emergency is not liable for civil damages, except for gross negligence or willful/wanton misconduct. Places where care is usually offered (e.g. hospital emergency departments) are excluded.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection Protected
Statute Civil Code § 1714.21 and Health and Safety Code § 1797.196 — immunity for the good-faith use of a defibrillator (AED) by a lay rescuer
No legal duty to rescue AED protection

Your protection under the law

California's Good Samaritan Law, codified at Health and Safety Code § 1799.102, shields anyone who in good faith and without pay steps in to give emergency medical or nonmedical care at the scene of an emergency; only gross negligence or willful, wanton misconduct falls outside that shield. The same protection reaches the use of a public defibrillator: under Civil Code § 1714.21 and Health and Safety Code § 1797.196, a lay rescuer who deploys an AED in good faith is granted immunity from civil damages.

No duty to act, but every reason to

In California no law forces you to intervene—stopping to help is a decision you make, not an obligation you owe. But once you choose to act, the statute stands behind your good-faith effort, and reaching for an AED is expressly part of what it covers. The worry about being sued should not be the reason a person walks past someone who has collapsed.

Why training matters

When a heart stops, the odds of survival fall by roughly ten percent with every minute that passes, and in those first minutes the only person who can help is the one already standing there. Across California's vast distances, paramedics can't always beat that clock—which is why the bystander is the true first link in the chain of survival. The law has already taken the legal risk off the table; training is what removes the hesitation, replacing doubt with hands that know exactly what to do. Learn the skills, and you become the reason someone gets a second chance.