Liability of the helping hand.

• Author: Kobekwa, Sid

The parable of the Good Samaritan in the Bible sets a moral standard we respect and attempt to model. The parable describes a man robbed, injured, and lying on the road in obvious distress. The victim is ignored and avoided by a priest and then by a Levite, but the third person to pass by, the Samaritan, out of pity offers help and pays for his room and board at an inn. the priest and Levite are judged as lacking moral character, and we applaud the Good Samaritan. We want to be Good Samaritans, and we hope our children, friends, and community will also love their neighbours and be Good Samaritans. With increasing publicity about everyone's right to claim compensation for injury should volunteers then be concerned with legal liability? What is your liability as a volunteer if you cause someone harm? Can you, the volunteer, receive compensation if you are injured while helping someone? Are there special rules when you volunteer your assistance in an emergency situation?

Should volunteers be concerned about legal liability?

A volunteer and those accepting the services of a volunteer have no special status and are subject to the same rules as any one else. When someone is injured, the courts first ask whether the person who allegedly caused the injury had a duty towards the injured person. If it is found that a duty does exist, then the question is whether reasonable care was taken. The case of Donoghue v. Stevenson (UK 1932) established the following:

"...you must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. Who, then, in law, is my neighbour? The answer seems to be -- persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to acts or omissions which are called in question."

Thus, in order to determine if you have a duty, the court asks if you should have reasonably known whether your act or omission could cause the other person harm. This test casts a broad net and includes your acts or omissions while volunteering. However, this does not extend as far as creating a duty to help a stranger in distress or in need of emergency first aid. This may be morally reprehensible, but the courts and legislatures have chosen not to impose a duty on bystanders.

This brings to mind the highly publicized case of Kitty Genovese, the young woman in New York, who was viciously...