Good Samaritan Law - Good or Bad?

According to Dr. Edward Younkins, Professor of Accountancy and Business Administration at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, the law “...allows government to function to protect the lives and liberties of citizens without violating the rights of some to provide gains to others.” If there were a law created that would force a person to aid or help a person in distress or need, the negative consequences of that law would far outweigh any possible, positive gain. If you witness a woman, walking over train tracks, trip, fall and break her leg on the tracks, should you assist her? Yes, you should want do whatever possible to help her - it is your moral obligation to try. Should it be your legal obligation? No. There are already laws in place, called “Good Samaritan laws”, that protect people that want to help and encourage people to feel free to give assistance without fear of being sued. Laws “forcing” people to give aid impinge on the liberties of citizens. Government that begins to put laws in place that take away free will, begin that dangerous journey into totalitarianism. Let’s take another look at the earlier example of the woman on the train tracks. This time the witness is a young, pregnant woman who is seven months into her pregnancy. She is alone and she does not have a cell phone and an incoming train is swiftly barreling towards the woman who is down on the tracks. Just by virtue of being present and seeing the other woman who needs help, the soon-to-be mother is now legally obligated to attempt to pull the other woman to safety under such a law. This law would possibly be forcing citizens to put themselves unnecessarily in danger. In addition, if that mother-to-be decides she cannot pull the other woman to safety, she will be thrown in jail. Many, otherwise, law-abiding citizens would go to jail along side those who really deserve to be in jail like thieves and murderers. We should all want, and attempt, to help our fellow human beings whenever possible but that choice should always remain just that: our choice. Heroism and compassion are noble virtues that we should all strive to have but the law cannot dictate whether we possess them or not.