Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Singapore

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 No dedicated Good Samaritan statute. The matter falls under the common law. In 2021, Minister for Law K. Shanmugam told Parliament that such a law was not needed in Singapore. The Singapore Heart Foundation runs a non-statutory 'Good Samaritan Initiative' (encouragement, not legal protection).
Scope of protection No statutory protection, but low liability risk under the common law: civil liability generally will not attach to a Samaritan who acts out of necessity with the care that can reasonably be expected, and criminal liability in principle requires malign intent. A claimant would also have to prove they would have been better off without the intervention. No local case of a suit against a Good Samaritan has been reported.
Duty to rescue No
AED liability protection No
No legal duty to rescue

Your protection under the law

Singapore has no dedicated Good Samaritan statute: the matter falls under the common law, and in 2021 the Minister for Law told Parliament that such a law was not considered necessary. Under the common law the liability risk stays low: civil liability generally does not attach to a Samaritan who acts out of necessity with the care that can reasonably be expected, and criminal liability in principle requires malign intent. To date, no local case of a suit against a Good Samaritan has in fact been reported.

No duty to act, but every reason to

In Singapore no law requires you to rescue: intervention remains a free choice, encouraged by civic initiatives rather than imposed by penalty. A claimant seeking to blame a rescuer would moreover have to prove they would have been better off without that help, a requirement that makes such a claim highly unlikely. In practice, someone who acts in good faith and reasonably can step in with an easy mind.

Why training matters

Singapore has made public access to defibrillators and citizen training a priority, because the numbers are unforgiving: without resuscitation, the chance of surviving cardiac arrest falls by about 10% with every minute. In so dense a city, an emergency can strike in a shopping mall, an MRT station or a residential block, and it is the nearest bystander who gives the victim their best chance, long before the ambulance. Training in CPR and first aid teaches you to recognise the arrest, to compress without pause and to use a defibrillator with confidence. To get trained is to join a community of citizens ready to act, and to become the decisive link in the chain of survival.