Colorado's Good Samaritan Law: What CPR Rescuers Need to Know

Colorado's Good Samaritan law provides strong legal protection for anyone who performs CPR or renders emergency assistance in good faith. If you are hesitant to help someone in cardiac arrest because you are worried about getting sued, the law is firmly on your side.

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What the Law Says

Colorado Revised Statute 13-21-108 protects any person who renders emergency care in good faith and without compensation at the scene of an emergency from civil liability. The protection applies unless your actions were grossly negligent or willful and wanton.

This means that good-faith efforts to help someone, even if the outcome is not perfect, are protected. You do not need to be a medical professional. You do not need to be CPR certified. If you see someone in need and you try to help without expecting payment, the law protects you.

Coverage extends to physicians, laypeople, bystanders, and volunteer rescuers. The person receiving care must not be someone you are otherwise obligated to cover (such as a patient already in your professional care).

AED Use Gets Separate Protection

A separate statute, C.R.S. 13-21-108.1, provides specific limited immunity for AED use. This law protects the individual delivering the AED shock, the entity that provided CPR/AED training, and the entity responsible for the AED site.

Critically, Section 13-21-108.1(5) explicitly exempts Good Samaritans from all formal AED program requirements. This means that even if you have never been trained on an AED, you can use one during an emergency without fear of liability. The law recognizes that AEDs are designed to be used by untrained bystanders and that the alternative, doing nothing, is far worse.

What "Grossly Negligent" Means

The law does not protect gross negligence or willful and wanton conduct. Gross negligence means a conscious disregard for the safety of others that goes far beyond simple mistakes. Making an honest error during CPR, cracking a rib during compressions, or failing to maintain perfect technique is NOT gross negligence. These are expected and accepted outcomes of emergency resuscitation.

Gross negligence would be something like intentionally harming someone under the pretense of helping, or performing actions that no reasonable person would consider emergency care.

Can you actually get sued for performing CPR? The detailed legal analysis.

The Bottom Line: Help Without Fear

You are far more likely to face moral regret for NOT helping someone in cardiac arrest than legal consequences for trying. The law protects you. The physics of the situation protect you (CPR cannot make a person in cardiac arrest worse off). And the training available to you eliminates the uncertainty about what to do.

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