Alaska Good Samaritan Law
Note: This
version includes the changes made in 1998 as a result of House Bill 395
concerning automated external defibrillators.
CHAPTER 65 ACTIONS, IMMUNITIES,
DEFENSES, AND DUTIES
SECTION 09.65.090
Civil liability for emergency aid. (a) A person at a hospital or any other
location who renders emergency care or emergency counseling to an injured, ill,
or emotionally distraught person who reasonably appears to the person rendering
the aid to be in immediate need of emergency aid in order to avoid serious harm
or death is not liable for civil damages as a result of an act or omission in
rendering emergency aid.
(b) A member of an organization that exists for the purpose of providing emergency services is not liable for civil damages for injury to a person that results from an act or omission in providing first aid, search, rescue, or other emergency services to the person, regardless of whether the member is under a preexisting duty to render assistance, if the member provided the service while acting as a volunteer member of the organization; in this subsection, "volunteer" means a person who is paid not more than $10 a day and a total of not more than $500 a year, not including ski lift tickets and reimbursement for expenses actually incurred, for providing emergency services.
(c) The immunity provided under
(b) of this section does not apply to civil damages that result from providing
or attempting to provide any of the following advanced life support techniques
unless the person who provided them was authorized by law to provide them:
(1)
manual electric cardiac defibrillation;
(2)
administration of antiarrhythmic agents;
(3)
intravenous therapy;
(4)
intramuscular therapy; or
(5) use
of endotracheal intubation devices.
(d) This section does not
preclude liability for civil damages as a result of gross negligence or
reckless or intentional misconduct.
(e) A person who uses an
automated external defibrillator to treat another person in cardiac arrest is
not liable for civil damages as a result of an act or omission in treating the
other person if the person was properly trained to use the device and activates
the emergency medical services system by notifying the appropriate
emergency medical services agency.
(f) In this section, "properly trained" means that the
individual has completed an automated external defibrillator training course
from the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, or another automated
external defibrillator training course approved by the Department of Health and
Social Services.