Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Arizona

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 Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1471 — immunity for any person who gratuitously and in good faith renders emergency care.
Scope of protection Protects any person who renders emergency care at the scene of an emergency occurrence gratuitously and in good faith. Immunity is lost for gross negligence.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection Protected
Statute Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 36-2262 — limited immunity for AED users, acquirers, trainers and supervising physicians; excludes willful misconduct or gross negligence.
No legal duty to rescue AED protection

Your protection under the law

Arizona extends broad protection through Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1471: any person who renders emergency care at the scene, gratuitously and in good faith, is immune from civil liability, with gross negligence marking the one boundary of that shield. For public-access defibrillators, Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 36-2262 grants a parallel, limited immunity that reaches users, acquirers, trainers and supervising physicians alike—reserving liability only for willful misconduct or gross negligence.

No duty to act, but every reason to

Arizona law places no obligation on you to intervene—helping a stranger in distress is a choice, freely made. When you make it in good faith, the statute protects you, and it says in plain terms that reaching for an AED is protected too. The fear of ending up in court shouldn't be what keeps you from acting; lawmakers removed that risk on purpose.

Why training matters

Under the desert heat or inside a crowded office, cardiac arrest gives no warning—and with survival dropping about ten percent every minute, the person beside the victim holds the outcome in their hands before help can arrive. That is what makes the bystander the first link in the chain of survival across Arizona. The statute has already taken the legal risk out of the equation; training takes out the doubt, turning a bystander into someone who acts calmly and correctly. Choose to be ready, and you give a neighbor, a coworker, or a stranger the chance to breathe again.