On Mon, 16 Aug 2004, Mike D wrote:

Am I right in saying that you could be charged with manslaughter if
you 'Fail to offer reasonalbe assistance' to someone in need.

I don't believe so - not in English law.

German law is certainly different - a bystander could indeed be
charged with failing to render assistance[1] (though I don't think
that failure alone could lead to a manslaughter charge as you
suggest). But the flip side was that untrained bystanders could feel
themselves bound to intervene in a situation where their intervention
did more harm than good for the victim.

regards

[1] Google suggests http://lawww.de/Library/stgb/323c.htm
Punishment up to 1 year imprisonment, or a fine.

"Alan J. Flavell" wrote in message
a.ac.uk...
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004, Mike D wrote:

Am I right in saying that you could be charged with manslaughter if
you 'Fail to offer reasonalbe assistance' to someone in need.

I don't believe so - not in English law.

German law is certainly different - a bystander could indeed be
charged with failing to render assistance[1] (though I don't think
that failure alone could lead to a manslaughter charge as you
suggest).
But the flip side was that untrained bystanders could feel
themselves bound to intervene in a situation where their intervention
did more harm than good for the victim.

This is exactly right. Doing the wrong think and making the
injury worse is far more likely to happen than doing the
right thing and saving someone, Though this probably
doesn't apply if someone is squirting blood everwhere.

tim