Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Wyoming

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 Wyo. Stat. § 1-1-120 (Good Samaritan immunity).
Scope of protection Any physician or other person who in good faith and without compensation renders emergency care at the place of an emergency or accident is not liable for civil damages. Immunity does not apply to acts or omissions constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection Protected
Statute Wyo. Stat. § 35-26-104: the person responsible for the site where the AED is located is immune from civil liability for any injury, except for willful or wanton misconduct or gross negligence, provided the requirements of W.S. § 35-26-102 are met. Protects rescuers, site owners, physicians, and trainers.
No legal duty to rescue AED protection

Your protection under the law

In Wyoming, § 1-1-120 of the Statutes protects any physician or other person who in good faith and without pay renders emergency care at the place of an emergency or accident. Immunity yields only to gross negligence or willful, wanton misconduct. Alongside it, § 35-26-104 shields the person responsible for the site where an AED is located from all civil liability — protecting rescuers, owners, physicians, and trainers — provided the requirements of § 35-26-102 are met.

No duty to act, but every reason to

Wyoming requires no one to help: intervention is a choice, not a legal duty. In return, the state surrounds that choice with twofold protection — for the rescuer's hands-on effort and for the device and the site that hosts it. Helping, here, carries no legal risk other than the avoidable one of gross negligence.

Why training matters

Wyoming is the least densely populated state in the country: across its wide open spaces, the nearest ambulance can be dozens of miles away. That means in an emergency it will often be you, and you alone, for long minutes. The law has built solid protection around you; all that's missing is the know-how to put it to use. A CPR and first-aid course gives you the movements that, in the solitude of a mountain road, can make all the difference between a life lost and a life saved.