Under Washington’s Good Samaritan law, if you stop to help someone during a sudden emergency and you are not being paid for it, you cannot be sued for civil damages unless your conduct amounts to gross negligence or willful misconduct. A separate statute goes further for drug overdoses: calling 911 for someone who is overdosing shields both you and the person in trouble from prosecution for simple drug possession. The core rule is in RCW 4.24.300, and it is written to remove the fear of a lawsuit so bystanders will actually step in.1Washington State Legislature. RCW 4.24.300 – Immunity from Liability for Certain Types of Medical Care
Who Is Covered and When
The statute reaches “any person, including but not limited to a volunteer provider of emergency or medical services.” You do not need training, certification, or any medical background. A shopper who performs CPR on a stranger in a grocery aisle is covered the same way a licensed nurse is when she stops at a hiking accident on her day off.2Washington State Department of Health. Good Samaritan Statutes
Two conditions have to be true at the same time. The care has to happen at the scene of an emergency, which the law describes as an accident or other sudden, unexpected event calling for immediate action. And the help has to be uncompensated: no payment, and no expectation of payment. Accept money, or help with the understanding that you will be paid, and the statute no longer applies.1Washington State Legislature. RCW 4.24.300 – Immunity from Liability for Certain Types of Medical Care
That second condition is why on-duty paramedics, emergency room nurses, and other professionals acting within their jobs cannot use RCW 4.24.300 to defend against a malpractice claim. Their liability rules come from elsewhere. The Good Samaritan statute is aimed at volunteers.
The Gross Negligence Ceiling
Immunity is not absolute. It covers ordinary negligence, meaning honest mistakes made under pressure, like fumbling a splint or getting chest compressions slightly off. It does not cover gross negligence or willful misconduct.1Washington State Legislature. RCW 4.24.300 – Immunity from Liability for Certain Types of Medical Care
Gross negligence in Washington is the failure to exercise even slight care. It is conduct substantially and appreciably worse than an ordinary mistake, so minimal that it shows a near-complete disregard for the injured person’s safety. Willful misconduct goes further and involves intentionally harmful acts. If a court finds either, the helper loses immunity and faces full civil liability.
For most people who genuinely try to help, this ceiling never becomes an issue. It is a shield against reckless behavior, not against imperfect performance.
Driving Someone to the Hospital
The immunity is not limited to hands-on medical care. It also covers uncompensated transportation of an injured person for emergency medical treatment. Driving someone with a severe allergic reaction to the nearest ER falls inside the statute.1Washington State Legislature. RCW 4.24.300 – Immunity from Liability for Certain Types of Medical Care
There is one carve-out worth knowing. Immunity does not extend to negligent operation of a motor vehicle, with a narrow exception: it does apply during the actual transport of the injured person to get further medical care. Cause a separate crash while speeding to the scene, and the Good Samaritan statute will not protect you from liability for that crash.3Justia Law. Maynard v. Ferno-Washington, Inc., 22 F. Supp. 2d 1171 (E.D. Wash.)
Using a Public Defibrillator
AEDs have their own statute. Under RCW 70.54.310, anyone who uses an automated external defibrillator at the scene of an emergency is immune from civil liability for any resulting personal injury, unless the use involves gross negligence or willful misconduct.4Washington State Legislature. RCW 70.54.310 The threshold works the same way as the general Good Samaritan rule. The dedicated protection matters because AEDs now sit in airports, gyms, schools, and office lobbies, and cardiac arrest is one of the situations where a bystander can most clearly change the outcome.
Calling 911 During an Overdose
Washington’s overdose Good Samaritan law is RCW 69.50.315, and it works differently. Instead of civil immunity, it provides criminal immunity. If you call 911 or otherwise seek medical help for someone experiencing a drug overdose, you cannot be charged with possession of a controlled substance if the evidence for that charge was obtained because you sought help. The person overdosing gets the same protection.5Washington State Legislature. RCW 69.50.315
The protection is narrow on purpose. It does not cover charges for manufacturing, delivery, or other drug offenses beyond simple possession. And the statute says the immunity cannot be used as grounds to suppress evidence in other criminal cases. The point is to remove the fear of a possession arrest so that people actually pick up the phone when someone is dying.5Washington State Legislature. RCW 69.50.315
Volunteering at a Free Clinic
RCW 4.24.300 has a second layer that applies to licensed healthcare providers who donate their time. Subsection (2) extends civil immunity to any licensed provider who volunteers uncompensated services at a community health care setting, which includes public clinics, tax-exempt clinics, and even for-profit facilities that hold established hours for free care to the public. The same gross negligence and willful misconduct exceptions apply, and the provider must be licensed under Washington’s health professions disciplining authority.2Washington State Department of Health. Good Samaritan Statutes
Is There a Duty to Help?
No. Washington does not impose a general legal obligation on bystanders to render aid or to call for help. You can walk past someone in distress without facing criminal charges or civil liability for doing nothing. The Good Samaritan statute protects people who choose to act; it does not penalize people who don’t.
A duty to act can arise from other areas of law when a special relationship exists, such as a parent’s obligation to a child or an employer’s responsibility for workplace safety. Those duties do not come from RCW 4.24.300.
Emergencies on Airplanes
Washington’s state protections stop at the ground. When a medical emergency happens on a domestic flight, the federal Aviation Medical Assistance Act of 1998 governs. Under that law, an individual who provides or attempts to provide assistance during an in-flight medical emergency is shielded from civil damages in both federal and state court, unless the person acts with gross negligence or willful misconduct. The Act also protects the airline itself when it asks a passenger for help in good faith. No federal law requires a passenger to volunteer, even one with medical training.6GovInfo. Aviation Medical Assistance Act of 1998
Where the Protection Runs Out
Four situations sit outside Washington’s Good Samaritan immunity:
- Care provided for pay, or with the expectation of pay. On-duty medical professionals fall here.
- Gross negligence or willful misconduct, as described above.
- Negligent operation of a motor vehicle, except during the actual transport of the injured person for medical care.3Justia Law. Maynard v. Ferno-Washington, Inc., 22 F. Supp. 2d 1171 (E.D. Wash.)
- Non-emergency situations. The general immunity in subsection (1) requires the scene of an emergency, meaning a sudden, unexpected event calling for immediate action. A non-urgent medical issue at home is not the same thing.
The disputes that actually arise under this statute tend to cluster around compensation and employment status rather than the quality of the care. A helper who stops without expecting payment, does what a reasonable person would try to do, and stays inside the limits of their skill has very little to worry about under Washington law.