Helping At The Scene
NRS 41.500 — emergency care given free and in good faith, liable only for gross negligence
Gratuitously and in good faith. Anyone in Nevada who renders emergency care or assistance in an emergency, gratuitously and in good faith, is not liable for civil damages for an act or omission in giving it, or in failing to provide or arrange further medical treatment, unless it amounts to gross negligence.
Gratuitously means the person helped is not required or expected to pay for it. The protection does not extend to someone performing community service as professional discipline.
- Someone trained in CPR by the Red Cross or the American Heart Association, or following a dispatcher's instructions, who gives CPR in good faith outside the person's regular work.
- Anyone who gives care with an automated external defibrillator, gratuitously and in good faith.
- A business that keeps a defibrillator, maintains and tests it, and follows the rules for it.
- Volunteer ambulance drivers and attendants, search and rescue members under a sheriff, and fire-agency personnel authorized to give emergency care.
Each of those has the same protection, short of gross negligence.
The rules for licensed health care providers are in another section not reproduced here. Whether particular help was gross negligence is a question for a court and a licensed Nevada attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- NRS 41.500 — General rule; volunteers; members of search and rescue organization; persons rendering cardiopulmonary resuscitation or using defibrillator
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Nevada attorney.