Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Caribbean

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 Regional overview. Most English-speaking Caribbean states (former British colonies) are common-law jurisdictions with no dedicated Good Samaritan statute. A rescuer's protection and liability flow from common-law negligence principles rather than a specific enactment. Civil-law traditions (Haiti, French) are the exception and do impose a duty to rescue.
Scope of protection Applies generically to common-law Caribbean jurisdictions: no general statutory duty to intervene; the volunteer rescuer is liable only for established negligence; no specific AED-protection statute. Check each state's domestic law for particulars.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection No
No legal duty to rescue

Your protection under the law

In most English-speaking Caribbean states, inheritors of the British tradition, there is no dedicated Good Samaritan statute: a rescuer's protection lies in the common-law principles of negligence. In practice, someone who intervenes in good faith and acts reasonably, by the standard of the prudent person, is not exposed for having wanted to help. Only clear negligence could give rise to liability — a rare situation for anyone who acts with good sense.

No duty to act, but every reason to

Across these common-law Caribbean jurisdictions, the law generally imposes no duty to rescue: helping remains a personal choice. A person who decides to intervene in good faith and with judgment is not treated harshly by the law. It is worth checking each state's domestic particulars, however, since the nuances vary from one island to the next.

Why training matters

Across the region, the same truth holds: in cardiac arrest, the odds of survival fall by roughly 10% per minute without CPR, and the bystander on the scene is the first link in the chain of survival. In a Caribbean of islands, rural districts and sometimes long ambulance delays, that first responder often counts for more than elsewhere. And where the law offers no detailed protective scaffolding, competence becomes the true guarantee of acting well. To get trained is to gain the means to turn a moment of panic into a life-saving act.