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After shopping at Trader Joe’s in a busy area of Manhattan, I noticed a man in his 80s leaning over his cane as if he were about to fall. His plastic shopping bag had dropped to the sidewalk.
“Are you OK?” I asked, even though he clearly wasn’t. “Can I help you?”
Another passerby stopped and asked a salesclerk in a nearby store to bring out a chair. We eased the man into it. He was short of breath and looked confused.
“Where do you live?” I asked.
He pointed north, up a wide avenue, which could have been anywhere. He didn’t speak much English, but he finally shared an address for a senior center. I googled it and called. A nurse assured me they’d be there quickly. I remained until she arrived.
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I didn’t know it at the time, but the Good Samaritan law in my state of New York is intended to “reduce a bystander’s hesitation to assist someone for fear of being sued or prosecuted for unintentional injury or wrongful death,” according to World Population Review. Most Good Samaritan laws are based on “good faith,” as opposed to doing a good deed with the expectation of compensation in return.
Many of us remember the finale of Seinfeld, when the four friends indifferently watched a carjacking attempt, made jokes and videotaped the attack. They were put in jail due to the town’s “Good Samaritan law,” citing that doing nothing in such a crisis was illegal.
Turns out that was no joke. In Minnesota, Louisiana, Rhode Island and Vermont, people do have a legal requirement to offer emergency help, according to World Population Review. Minnesota’s “failure-to-act” law states that “passersby or bystanders have a legal duty to offer emergency help. In Minnesota, failing to provide reasonable assistance could result in a misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $300.”
In fact, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have a Good Samaritan law of some kind or another, in addition to federal laws for specific circumstances.
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