The Massachusetts Good Samaritan law is not a single statute but a set of overlapping protections that shield people who help others in an emergency. If you act in good faith and without pay, M.G.L. c. 112, § 12V protects you from civil lawsuits over emergency care like CPR or defibrillation. Separate statutes cover people who assist crime victims, people who give naloxone during an opioid overdose, and people who call 911 to report an overdose. Each protection has its own scope, and which one applies depends on what you were doing when you stepped in.
Helping a Stranger With Emergency Care
The statute most bystanders rely on is M.G.L. c. 112, § 12V. Anyone who attempts to render emergency care in good faith and without compensation is not liable for harm caused by those efforts, unless the conduct amounts to gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.1General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 112 Section 12V The statute names cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation specifically, but the phrase “including, but not limited to” reaches other forms of emergency first aid as well.
Two things have to be true for the immunity to apply. You have to act in good faith, meaning you genuinely intend to help and you’re responding to what you reasonably believe is an emergency. And you can’t accept or expect payment for what you do. When both are true, you’re shielded from a civil suit unless your conduct crosses into gross negligence or willful recklessness, which is a high bar that sits well above making a well-intentioned mistake.
This is the provision that protects the coworker who performs CPR on a colleague in cardiac arrest, or the stranger who grabs an AED at a gym. It’s aimed at laypeople, and its reach is broad enough to cover most first-aid scenarios where someone steps in before professional responders arrive.
Helping Someone Who Was Hurt in a Crime
A separate statute, M.G.L. c. 258C, § 13, protects people who help crime victims. If you assist someone who has been hurt during a crime, or try to, you’re shielded from a civil lawsuit for damages as long as you act in good faith. The only exception is willful, wanton, or reckless conduct.2General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 258C Section 13 – Good Samaritans Liability
The chapter’s definition of “victim” is specific. It covers anyone who suffers physical or psychological injury or death as a direct result of a crime, as a result of trying to help someone targeted by a crime, or as a result of trying to prevent a crime or apprehend the person who committed one.3Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c258C Section 1 If you intervene to stop a mugging and the victim is accidentally injured in the scuffle, this statute protects you from a civil suit over that unintended harm, as long as you weren’t acting recklessly.
One difference from § 12V is worth flagging. The crime-victim statute doesn’t require that you act without compensation, and it doesn’t list “gross negligence” as a separate category. Its exception is limited to willful, wanton, or reckless conduct.
Calling 911 During an Overdose
Under M.G.L. c. 94C, § 34A, a person who calls for medical help during a drug overdose in good faith cannot be charged or prosecuted for simple drug possession. The protection covers both the bystander who calls and the person who is overdosing.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 94C Section 34A It also blocks a probation, pretrial-release, or parole violation from being imposed when the evidence for that violation came from the act of seeking medical help.
This one has clear limits. It covers possession only. It does not cover trafficking, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 94C Section 34A If officers arrive and find evidence of drug dealing, the caller isn’t shielded from those charges. What the law does is remove the most common reason people hesitate to dial 911 during an overdose: fear of being arrested for what’s in the room.
Giving Naloxone
M.G.L. c. 112, § 12FF provides civil immunity to anyone who administers naloxone (commonly sold as Narcan) or another opioid antagonist to a person they reasonably believe is having an opioid overdose, so long as they act in good faith. The immunity does not apply to gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.5General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 112 Section 12FF Unlike § 12V, this statute does not include a “without compensation” requirement.
Doctors, Nurses, and PAs Off the Clock
Licensed medical professionals who volunteer emergency care outside their normal practice settings have their own provision under M.G.L. c. 112, § 12B. A licensed physician, physician assistant, or nurse who renders emergency care in good faith, as a volunteer, and without a fee is not liable for damages resulting from that care.6General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 112 Section 12B The statute even extends to professionals licensed in other states, Washington D.C., or Canadian provinces.
The key phrase is “other than in the ordinary course of his practice.” A doctor stopping at a highway crash is covered. The same doctor treating patients during a scheduled hospital shift is not; standard malpractice law applies to compensated, routine professional work. When a medical professional steps outside their paid role and volunteers emergency help, the Good Samaritan shield applies. When they’re on the clock, they’re held to full professional standards.
Where the Protection Ends
Every Massachusetts Good Samaritan statute draws the same line: you’re protected unless your conduct rises to gross negligence or willful, wanton, or reckless behavior. That line sits much higher than ordinary carelessness.
Massachusetts courts treat recklessness as different from negligence not just in degree but in kind. Ordinary negligence can come from incompetence or inattention. Recklessness requires consciously choosing a course of action while knowing, or having reason to know, that it creates a serious danger to others. The conduct has to make it highly likely that someone will suffer serious injury or death, and the person has to intentionally or unreasonably disregard that risk.7Mass.gov. Superior Court Model Civil Jury Instructions – Recklessness
In practical terms, a bystander who performs CPR and accidentally cracks a rib is protected. Someone who tries to help but makes the situation worse through honest mistakes is protected. What’s not protected is something like attempting an improvised surgical procedure with a pocket knife, or ignoring obvious signs that your “help” is causing harm.
A claim that circulates online is that Massachusetts’ Good Samaritan law excludes people who are intoxicated. None of these statutes contain an explicit alcohol or drug exclusion. That said, acting under the influence could easily push your conduct into the reckless category that voids protection, especially if impairment leads to dangerously poor decisions while you’re helping.
Do You Have to Help in the First Place?
Massachusetts does not impose a general legal duty on bystanders to help strangers in distress. In most situations, you can walk past someone having a medical emergency without any legal obligation to intervene. This follows the traditional common-law rule that applies across most of the United States.
Two qualifications matter. If you do begin helping someone, you generally cannot abandon them in a worse position than you found them; starting a rescue and then walking away once the person has come to rely on you can itself create liability. And certain relationships create a duty of care already, including parents to children, employers to employees, and property owners to guests, where failing to act can have legal consequences.
The Good Samaritan statutes exist precisely because there is no general duty to help. The legislature wanted to remove disincentives for people who voluntarily choose to step in.
Staying Within the Zone of Protection
Knowing the law helps. A few practical habits keep you clearly on the protected side of it.
- Call 911 first, or at the same time as you start helping. Getting professional responders on the way is always the right first step, and in overdose situations it also triggers the criminal immunity under § 94C, § 34A.
- Stay within your skill level. Perform CPR if you know how. Use an AED if one is available. Don’t attempt procedures you haven’t been trained for. The line between a well-intentioned mistake (protected) and reckless improvisation (not protected) often comes down to whether a reasonable person in your position would have tried what you tried.
- Don’t accept payment for the help. Under § 12V, agreeing to compensation can take you outside the immunity.
- Don’t abandon someone mid-rescue. Once you’ve started, continue until professional responders arrive or you’re physically unable to keep going.
Massachusetts’ Good Samaritan protections are broad, and the threshold for losing them is high. For anyone acting in genuine good faith during a real emergency, fear of a lawsuit is not a good reason to hold back.