Washington Law Review
Abstract
For the past three years, the Washington legislature has considered a Good Samaritan bill, nicknamed the "Joey Levick Bill," that would impose a duty to summon assistance for those known to be substantially injured. This Comment argues that the bill is minimally intrusive and should be acceptable to autonomous individuals, because it requires a bystander merely to notify the appropriate authorities is if the bystander sees someone who is substantially injured. The bill also addresses the concerns about sinister abuse of the law by criminals feigning injury, by not requiring an individual to attempt a physical rescue. In addition, the bill will likely result in an increase in the number of rescues, regardless of whether the state actively enforces the bill. Most importantly, however, the lives saved by the bill will outweigh any costs of implementation. This Comment concludes that Washington should adopt the proposed Good Samaritan bill.
First Page
1181
Recommended Citation
Sungeeta Jain,
Notes and Comments,
How Many People Does It Take to Save a Drowning Baby?: A Good Samaritan Statute in Washington State,
74 Wash. L. Rev.
1181
(1999).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol74/iss4/6