Lifeguard fired for having rescued drowning man

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

kraznyi already answered the point, but I will reiterate that there are a series of Samaritan laws that compell a first responder to act in these situations. If he had not acted, he could be civilly and possibly criminally liable in the US.

A little time on Google would have come up with that answer. You were probably too busy spaming to do so.

In Germany as well: "unterlassene Hilfeleistung" is punishable by §323c StGB, penlty up to 1 year in prison and/or financial penalty.


But that is not the issue in this story. The issue is whether it is morally defendable and whether it can be expected from an employee or that he even can get ordered to just look and do nothing when he is fully aware that somebody is dying who possibly could be savedy his intervention, even more so when that employee is a trained recuer himself.

Some of the replies here remind me of the self-justification we have heared in the trials after the Third Reich, i must admit.

Pendantic, murderous bureaucrats speaking.

When indifference is not only demanded by rules, but directly causes the death of people, when murderous indifference becomes mandatory and a duty, then the fault is not just on the cosmetical level, but the smelly brown stuff has sunk deep into the basic structure already.

What the company should have done if they are fearing liabilties? Not making a big story of the event, keeping the public pout as far as possible, asking the employee to keep a low profile over it as well, and unofficially give him a tap on the shoulder and say "Correct decision, very well done".