disadvanatges about good samaritan law?

Answer 1

As far as I'm concerned there are none. I would rather someone who doesn't know much about how to help anyone in a emergency help me anyway rather than for someone to turn their back.

Answer 2

Very few. Realize that most states' "good samaritan" laws only say that (a) if you choose to render aid to someone, and you exercise that aid in good faith, you can not be liable for any exacerbation of damage you do to the victim, unless (b) you're a physician, EMT, or other trained person.
In most states there is NO requirement that you have to take affirmative steps to stop a crime (unless you were a co-conspirator or somehow affirmatively aided the criminal) or help someone who has been injured (unless you're a trained medical person, or unless you're the person's parent or guardian, etc.).

Now, regarding those sort of affirmative duties, you can argue that we don't want untrained people getting involved and making things worse, (either during the commission of a crime or when someone is hurt... could you imagine an affirmative duty to try to stop muggings or carjackings? It'd be a mess; people would be killed and injured al the time). And we don't want people to feel like they have to spy on their neighbors ("oh, was that a crime? I might get arrested if I don't report it...") to comply with the law.

Answer 3

In some cases, encouraging an undertrained person to "help" someone who needs it can result in a higher chance of life-threatening mistakes.

Should I run into a burning building to save someone if I'm not a fireman? Maybe it will put me in danger myself. Maybe I will reach you, then open the wrong door and we both get caught in a backdraft. Maybe I will end up just being a second person that the trained firefighters have to rescue. Maybe that even puts you in greater jeopardy!

Should I try and save a person who's stopped breathing or whose heart has stopped if I don't know M2M or CPR? Maybe I will accidentally break your ribs. Maybe I will move you and it will cause you to hemmorage or something.

It's good to help others in need, but you need to weigh the urgency of the situation and how fast trained personnel can arrive against your own lack of skill.

Answer 4

Depends on what you mean. If you mean something that limits the liability of someone who tries to help out in an accident, that's good. If you mean something like the last episode of Seinfeld that creates a duty to help someone else, that would reflect everything Orwell warned us about.

Answer 5

if you take no action you could get thrown in jail with 3 of your friends.