Good Samaritans

Texas has a law

Texas has a roadside help law, called the Good Samaritans Law. The law protects you from liability if you accidentally hurt someone else while rendering aid during an emergency. The purpose of the law is to encourage passing motorists to try to help however you can when someone has been hurt. Help such as performing CPR on a person having a heart attack or by giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a drowning victim. Thereby protecting you the Samaritan against a lawsuit if you are ultimately unable to save the victim.

THE LAW DOESN’T REQUIRE A GOOD SAMARITAN TO BE MEDICALLY QUALIFIED.

Texas law does not require you to be a licensed medical professional in order to receive the protection it provides. However, the scope of the Good Samaritan Law is limited in some other ways.

WHO DOES IT NOT PROTECT?

Firstly, it does not apply to a medical professional who is providing care for pay. Such as an ER doctor or an EMT. It also does not apply if the person rendering the aid was the same person who caused the injury. Finally, it does not protect an aid provider if his acts were “willfully or wantonly negligent”. Which means that the person was so careless that we can assume he acted with conscious indifference.

Although emergency medical treatment can sometimes hurt a victim rather than help a victim. Texas has decided that the good Samaritan law will encourage people to give what help they can and that’s a good thing.

If you’ve been the victim of trying to help and have been sued for those actions in a car accident. Contact the Messina Law Firm immediately or submit a case for free analysis. There is never an initial charge to consult with one of our attorneys.