Beijing draws up laws to protect Good Samaritans from malicious legal action
Beijing’s city government has drawn up draft legislation to protect Good Samaritans from malicious legal action by the people they tried to help, according to a media report.
The draft laws would make it an offence in the capital to fabricate facts to extort money from somebody who had come to their aid, China National Radio reported.
The aim of the legislation was to encourage people with medical or first aid skills to help those injured in accidents before paramedics arrive, the report said.
The media in China has regularly reported on cases of people suing those who helped them during accidents, either real or imagined.
In one high-profile case two years ago, an elderly woman in Panjin in Liaoning province took legal action against a woman who helped her after she had fallen while trying to get off a bus and paid her medical expenses in hospital.
The elderly woman later said the other had bumped into her and demanded 40,000 yuan (HK$50,000) in compensation.
Surveillance footage taken on the bus discredited her story.
Media commentators have suggested that the fear of being sued makes some people in China wary of coming to others’ aid.
Shenzhen issued China’s first legislation to protect Good Samaritans from malicious legal action two years ago.
