Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Hawaii

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 Haw. Rev. Stat. § 663-1.5 — immunity for any person who in good faith renders emergency care gratuitously at the scene of an accident or emergency.
Scope of protection Protects any person who in good faith and without expectation of pay renders emergency care at the scene of an accident or emergency. Immunity is lost for gross negligence or willful misconduct.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection Protected
Statute Haw. Rev. Stat. § 663-1.5 (subsections on AEDs) — immunity for AED users, acquirers and trainers acting in good faith; excludes gross negligence or willful misconduct.
No legal duty to rescue AED protection

Your protection under the law

Under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 663-1.5, anyone who in good faith and with no expectation of pay renders emergency care at the scene of an accident or emergency is immune from liability, save where the conduct rises to gross negligence or willful misconduct. The same statute carries its protection to defibrillators: users, acquirers and trainers who act in good faith with an AED are covered on the identical standard.

No duty to act, but every reason to

Hawaii places no legal duty on you to intervene—stepping in to help, the spirit of kokua, is a choice freely given, not an obligation. Once you act in good faith, the statute stands behind you, and it counts the use of an AED as expressly protected. Don't let the fear of a lawsuit hold you back; the law has already cleared that fear from your path.

Why training matters

On islands where advanced help may be minutes—or a channel—away, the person on the spot matters enormously, because survival from cardiac arrest falls by roughly ten percent for every minute without CPR. That makes the bystander Hawaii's first link in the chain of survival, the one whose hands bridge the gap until responders arrive. The law has already taken away the legal risk; training takes away the doubt, so care flows the moment it's needed. Learn these skills, and you become someone your community can count on when a life hangs in the balance.