Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Kentucky

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 KRS § 411.148 (Good Samaritan Act) — immunity for emergency care rendered gratuitously at the scene of an accident or emergency.
Scope of protection No physician, licensed emergency responder, or person who in an emergency gratuitously renders emergency care or treatment is liable for civil damages, except for acts performed with gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection Protected
Statute KRS § 311.668 — any person or entity who in good faith and without compensation renders emergency care by use of an AED (as well as the supervising physician, trainer, and site owner) is immune from civil liability, except for gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
No legal duty to rescue AED protection

Your protection under the law

Kentucky's Good Samaritan Act, KRS § 411.148, removes civil liability for emergency care rendered gratuitously at the scene of an accident or emergency, whether by a physician, a licensed responder, or an ordinary bystander. AED use is protected by KRS § 311.668, whose immunity reaches the rescuer, the supervising physician, the trainer, and the site owner alike. In both cases, only gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct can lift the protection.

No duty to act, but every reason to

Kentucky requires no one to help — stepping in remains a choice, driven by conscience rather than by law. But that choice the state surrounds with guarantees: good faith protected, AED use covered, civil liability set aside for the person who acts without pay. Fear of a lawsuit should therefore not tip the scales when a life depends on your decision to move forward.

Why training matters

The courage to help reaches its full worth only when grounded in know-how. Training in CPR and first aid teaches you to recognize distress, to sustain circulation with steady compressions, and to use an AED calmly — reflexes that, once learned, stay etched in memory. In Kentucky, from the Appalachians to small rural communities, the minutes before help arrives often belong to the bystanders present. By training, you gain more than a set of gestures: you become, for those around you, a reason to hope.