Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR New Zealand

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 No dedicated Good Samaritan statute. Protection flows indirectly from the Accident Compensation Act 2001, which establishes a no-fault compensation scheme (ACC) and bars nearly all personal-injury lawsuits. The Crimes Act 1961, s 151, imposes a duty to provide the 'necessaries' only on a person who has actual care or charge of a vulnerable adult — not a general duty to rescue.
Scope of protection The ACC scheme effectively bars any claim for damages for personal injury: a rescuer is therefore practically shielded from civil suit by the victim, regardless of training. There is no general duty to rescue a stranger; the s 151 duty is confined to persons who have charge of another. Once rescue is undertaken, a duty of care proportionate to one's skills applies.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection Protected
Statute No statute specifically addresses the AED, but the bar on personal-injury lawsuits established by the Accident Compensation Act 2001 effectively protects an AED user from any civil claim by the victim. The protection is therefore systemic rather than targeted.
No legal duty to rescue AED protection

Your protection under the law

New Zealand has no dedicated Good Samaritan statute, but protection flows indirectly from the Accident Compensation Act 2001, which establishes a no-fault compensation scheme and in practice bars almost all personal-injury lawsuits. A rescuer is therefore effectively shielded from any civil claim by the victim, whether trained or not. The Crimes Act 1961, moreover, imposes a duty of care only on a person who has actual charge of a vulnerable adult, not a general duty to rescue.

No duty to act, but every reason to

In New Zealand no general obligation falls on the witness to an emergency: helping is a choice, and the ACC scheme means there is practically nothing to fear from a claim for damages. Once rescue is undertaken, all that applies is a duty of care proportionate to your skills, which any training helps you meet. In short, New Zealand's legal environment is among the most reassuring in the world for anyone who decides to act in good faith.

Why training matters

Each year thousands of New Zealanders suffer cardiac arrest outside hospital, and their survival often depends on what the bystander does in the very first minutes: without resuscitation the odds fall by about 10% a minute. Whether in the heart of a city or on a remote stretch of coast, help cannot always arrive in time, and it is you who become the first link in the chain of survival. Training in CPR and first aid gives you the skills and the confidence to compress, ventilate and use a defibrillator without delay. To get trained is to choose never to stand helpless before a life hanging in the balance.