Good Samaritan law
First Aid & CPR Illinois
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.
Your protection under the law
Illinois protects volunteers through its Good Samaritan Act, 745 ILCS 49/, whose § 25 grants immunity to a person who in good faith and without fee provides emergency care, with only willful and wanton misconduct falling outside—and the courts read the Act liberally, precisely to encourage people to help. The same statute covers defibrillators at 745 ILCS 49/12, immunizing AED users along with sponsors and trainers, so using a public AED is protected under the same generous terms.
No duty to act, but every reason to
Illinois creates no legal duty to intervene—helping a stranger is a choice, and the choice is yours. When you make it honestly, the statute is built to protect you; lawmakers even directed that it be read broadly, and they wrote AED use expressly into its coverage. Fear of being sued shouldn't be what stops you, because the law has gone out of its way to make sure it won't.
Why training matters
In the seconds after a collapse, survival from cardiac arrest fades by roughly ten percent a minute, so wherever the victim falls—on a Chicago platform or a small-town street—the outcome rests first in the hands of whoever is near. That is why the bystander is the first link in the chain of survival, acting in the window before the paramedics can arrive. Illinois has already taken the legal risk away—and gone further, telling its courts to favor those who help; what remains for training to remove is the doubt. Learn the skills, and you carry a quiet readiness that can turn a bystander into a lifesaver.