Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Venezuela

The Good Samaritan: compassion and protection

Drawn from the Bible (Luke 10:25-37), the parable of the Good Samaritan tells of a traveller left for dead who is rescued by a stranger that tends to him and sees to his care. Beyond its religious context, it carries a universal message: the moral duty to help others in danger, through compassion and altruism.

Inspired by this principle, many so-called Good Samaritan laws have been enacted around the world to protect those who assist in good faith during an emergency from legal action. The exact scope of that protection, however, varies from one jurisdiction to another: here is what the law applicable to your region provides.

Statute citation

Governing act Penal Code (2005), art. 438 (chap. V "Del abandono de niños o de otras personas incapaces de proveer a su seguridad o a su salud"). It punishes anyone who, having found an abandoned or lost child under seven or an incapable person, fails to immediately notify the authorities; and anyone who, having found a person who is injured, in danger, or apparently lifeless, fails to render aid — where doing so entails no personal danger — or to notify the authorities.
Scope of protection Duty to notify the authorities upon finding an abandoned/lost child under seven or an incapable person; and duty to render aid (or notify the authorities) to a person who is injured, in danger, or apparently lifeless, where no personal harm or danger results.
Duty to rescue Yes
Penalty for failure to assist Fine of fifty to five hundred tax units (50 to 500 U.T.) (art. 438).
AED liability protection No
Legal duty to rescue applies

Your protection under the law

Venezuela's Penal Code (2005) penalizes in its article 438 anyone who, finding a person injured, in danger, or apparently lifeless, fails to render aid — where doing so entails no personal harm or danger — or to notify the authorities. The rule punishes the omission, not the aid: a Venezuelan who helps in good faith, without exposing themselves, acts in keeping with the duty the law sets out.

Duty to rescue

In Venezuela, helping is a legal obligation: failing to give aid or to notify the authorities when faced with a person in danger, or an abandoned child under seven or an incapable person, draws a fine of fifty to five hundred tax units. The law asks for prudent aid — only where there is no personal harm or danger — but makes clear that, before a life at risk, looking away carries consequences.

Why training matters

Meeting that duty effectively requires knowing how. Before someone who appears lifeless, recognizing an arrest and beginning compressions at once is what separates a recovery from a loss. Training in CPR and first aid gives a Venezuelan the certainty of what to do in those first minutes and the composure to do it well, turning the obligation to help into a concrete ability to sustain life until help arrives. To prepare is to respond when it matters most.