Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Alabama

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 Ala. Code § 6-5-332 — Good Samaritan immunity for gratuitous emergency care.
Scope of protection Protects lay rescuers who in good faith and gratuitously render emergency care at the scene of an accident or emergency. Immunity is lost for willful or wanton misconduct.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection Protected
Statute Ala. Code § 6-5-332.3 — immunity for use of an automated external defibrillator (AED); excludes manufacturers/sellers.
No legal duty to rescue AED protection

Your protection under the law

In Alabama, gratuitous emergency help is protected by Ala. Code § 6-5-332, which grants immunity to a lay rescuer who in good faith and free of charge renders care at the scene of an accident or emergency; that shield falls away only where the rescuer's conduct is willful or wanton. A companion provision, Ala. Code § 6-5-332.3, carries the same protection to the use of an automated external defibrillator—though it does not extend to those who manufacture or sell the device.

No duty to act, but every reason to

Alabama imposes no legal duty to rescue a stranger; whether to stop and help is left entirely to your conscience. Yet the moment you act in good faith, the statute is on your side, and picking up an AED is squarely within its coverage. Let the fear of a lawsuit fall away—the law was written precisely so it wouldn't stand between a person and the help they need.

Why training matters

Cardiac arrest is unforgiving—survival slips by about ten percent for every minute without CPR, so the outcome is often decided long before an ambulance turns onto the street. That makes the bystander, not the paramedic, the first and most important link in the chain of survival across Alabama's towns and rural stretches alike. The statute has already removed the legal risk of stepping in; what training removes is the doubt, giving you the steady confidence to act when seconds are everything. Know what to do, and you carry the power to hold a life in place until help arrives.