Best if printed in landscape.

Tort Immunity for Emergency Assistance
"GOOD SAMARITAN ACT"

N.D.C.C. §32-03.1-02. Actions barred. No person, or the person's employer, subject to exceptions . . ., who renders aid or assistance necessary or helpful in the circumstances to other persons who have been injured or are ill as the result of an accident or illness, or any mechanical, external or organic trauma, may be named as a defendant or held liable in any personal injury civil action by any party in this state for acts or omissions arising out of a situation in which emergency aid or assistance is rendered, unless it is plainly alleged in the complaint and later proven that such person's acts or omissions constituted intentional misconduct or gross negligence.

N.D.C.C. §32-03.1-01. Definitions. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the designated meanings:

4. "Gross negligence" means acts or omissions falling short of intentional misconduct which nevertheless show a failure to exercise even slight care or any conscious interest in the predictable consequences of the acts or omissions. For the purposes of this chapter, "gross negligence" includes the failure of an aider to relinquish direction of the care of an injured or ill person when an appropriate person licensed or certified by this state or by any state or province to provide medical care or assistance assumes or attempts to assume responsibility for the care of the injured or ill person.

N.D.C.C. §32-03.1-05. Exceptions. This chapter shall not encompass any person who, at the time of the emergency, was employed expressly or actually for the purpose of providing emergency medical aid to humans, either within or outside of a hospital or other place or vehicle with medical equipment, for emergency medical aid or other assistance rendered in the regular course of their employment. Such persons and their employers shall be liable for their acts and omissions in rendering emergency medical aid in the regular course of their employment, according to the prevailing law in this state in existence on July 1, 1987.

N.D.C.C. §32-03.1-08. Actions not barred. Nothing in this chapter may be construed to bar a civil action by any injured or ill person or their survivors against any person for having tortiously caused an injury or emergency situation. Nothing in this chapter may be construed to relieve any person, tortiously causing an injury or emergency situation, from any affirmative duty to provide proper aid or assistance. If the defendant prevails in such an action, the defendant shall be entitled to costs and fees only as the other statutes and court rules of this state provide.

N.D.C.C. §32-03.1-03. Criminal immunity. No person who renders aid or assistance necessary or helpful in the circumstances to other persons who have been injured or are ill as the result of an accident or sudden illness, or any mechanical, external or organic trauma, may be criminally charged in this state for having practiced medicine or nursing without a license, provided that the aider shall relinquish direction of the care of the injured person when an appropriate person licensed or certified by this state or by any state or province to provide medical care or assistance assumes responsibility for the care of the injured person.

Last updated January 28, 2006

E-Mail agecinf@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Published by Agribusiness and Applied Economics
Morrill Room 217, P.O. Box 5636
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5636
Phone: (701) 231-7441
Fax: (701) 231-7400