duty to rescue
Mandated bystander assistance
A duty to rescue is a legal or moral obligation to help someone in peril.
Most legal systems impose no general duty to rescue strangers—you can watch someone drown without liability if you didn't cause their danger.
But certain relationships create exceptions: parents must rescue children, employers must aid employees, and some jurisdictions require bystanders to summon help.
The duty to rescue doesn't require you to endanger yourself.
- negligenceFailure to exercise care
- emergency responseOrganized action during crises
- call for helpDistress signal seeking assistance
- first aidInitial injury treatment
- altruismPrioritizing others' wellbeing
bystander effect · moral obligation · standing idly by · utilitarianism · tort law · deontology · social contract · legal immunity · drowning victim · disaster relief · helping hand · beneficence · liability · reasonable care · medical triage · CPR training · justice · compassion
duty to rescueabandonment
Act of leaving permanently
depraved indifference · dereliction · neglect · failure to act · willful blindness
duty, rescue, duties, dutiful, dutifully, rescues, rescued, rescuer, rescuers