Helping At The Scene
ORC 2305.23 — no civil liability for emergency care, unless the acts were wilful or wanton
The fear that stopping to help will end in a lawsuit is common enough that the legislature wrote a section to answer it. The section is short, and its protection is wide, but it has an edge, and the edge is a phrase this site meets in more than one chapter.
No civil damages for emergency care at the scene. No person is liable in civil damages for administering emergency care or treatment at the scene of an emergency outside of a hospital, doctor's office or other place having proper medical equipment, for acts performed at the scene of that emergency, unless the acts constitute wilful or wanton misconduct.
No person means anybody, not only somebody with training. The Supreme Court of Ohio has read the section as reaching any person providing emergency care at the scene, not only health care responders. A passer by who stops is inside the section on the same footing as an off duty nurse.
The immunity does not apply where the care is rendered for remuneration or with the expectation of remuneration from the person helped or somebody on their behalf. Administering care as part of the duties of a paid member of a fire department or a law enforcement agency is not, for this purpose, rendering it for remuneration.
Wilful or wanton is the one thing that takes it away. Ordinary negligence is not enough to lose the immunity. What the section carves out is wilful or wanton misconduct, which is an intentional departure from a clear duty, or a failure to use any care with indifference to consequences where the probability of harm is great and known. It is the same standard the traffic chapter uses for reckless operation, and it is a high one.
| The situation | Inside the section |
|---|---|
| The situationA stranger giving first aid at a crash | Inside the sectionYes |
| The situationCare given at a hospital or a doctor's office | Inside the sectionNo, the section is about scenes without proper equipment |
| The situationCare given for payment, or expecting it | Inside the sectionNo |
| The situationA paid firefighter or officer on duty | Inside the sectionYes, that is not remuneration for this purpose |
| The situationActs amounting to wilful or wanton misconduct | Inside the sectionNo |
Whether a duty to help exists at all, the separate immunities for emergency medical services and for using an automated external defibrillator, and what a court makes of a particular set of acts are each outside this page. Whether particular conduct was wilful or wanton is a question of fact in a particular case and is for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- ORC 2305.23 — Liability for emergency care, and the wilful or wanton exception
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Talk to a licensed Ohio attorney about your situation.