Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Brazil

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 Criminal Code, Art. 135 (Decreto-Lei 2.848/1940) — "omissão de socorro" (failure to render aid)
Scope of protection Art. 135 punishes anyone who fails, when able to do so without personal risk, to assist an abandoned or lost child, or a disabled, injured, abandoned or seriously and imminently endangered person, or to request help from public authorities. Brazil has no federal "Good Samaritan" statute providing a civil-liability shield for the rescuer.
Duty to rescue Yes
Penalty for failure to assist Detention of 1 to 6 months, or a fine (Art. 135 CP); penalty increased by half if serious injury results and tripled if death results
AED liability protection No
Legal duty to rescue applies

Your protection under the law

In Brazil, solidarity toward a person in danger is written into the Criminal Code itself. Article 135 (Decreto-Lei 2.848/1940), under the heading "omissão de socorro," punishes anyone who fails — when able to do so without personal risk — to assist an abandoned or lost child, or a disabled, injured or seriously and imminently endangered person, or to request help from the public authorities. Brazil has no federal "Good Samaritan" statute creating a civil-liability shield for the rescuer, yet the law unambiguously values the person who acts in good faith.

Duty to rescue

In Brazil, the law does not merely hope you will help: it requires it. Failure to render aid is punished with one to six months' detention or a fine, increased by half if the victim suffers serious injury and tripled if they die — a clear signal of the weight society places on the act of helping. Seen positively, this framework is a reminder that your presence truly matters: knowing how to intervene means meeting that expectation with assurance rather than fear.

Why training matters

In a cardiac arrest, every minute without resuscitation cuts the chances of survival by roughly 10%. In Brazil, between the distances of the great metropolises and the remoteness of many inland municipalities, it is almost always the hands of a bystander that write the first lines of the chain of survival. Training in CPR and first aid gives those hands the accuracy and confidence they need. What you learn today may become, one day, the heartbeat that brings a human being back to life.