1 Gallo

Joey Gallo
Mrs. Housepian
English 2H; Period 2
26 January 2015
Good Sam
Ethical responsibility is often ignored in modern society. Jay Sterling Silver discussed the
level of ethical responsibility one should have in emergencies. His viewpoint is that people
should render assistance during a time of an emergency. In my opinion, Those who are capable
of rendering assistance should be required to help others in need.
Acting in an ethical manner during an emergency is the most reasonable thing to do. In
the article, Good Samaritans USA are Afraid to Act, Ann Sjoerdsma conveys the message that
rendering assistance to those in need is what the most reasonable thing to do in that situation.
The text states, If a good samaritan does what a reasonable person would do under the
circumstances, he won't be held liable in negligence for any harm he/she may cause the
victim(Sjoerdsma, 17). This quote implies that rendering assistance is something everyone
should do and it is the reasonable thing to do. By displaying this, The author displays that
helping others in need is what people should be required to do. Another example of this is in the
article, Equipped Rescuers Dig Out Volcano Victims, Bradley Graham explains how the victims
should have had more help in order to survive. He does this by stating,We need people, we
need equipment, but we have next to nothing(Graham, 1). This explains the lack of assistance
that the victims in the volcanic eruption had. The people who stood around and watched without
doing anything should have been required to help and because they did not assist the victims,
they ended up dying a painful death. Anybody in the right mind should be required to render
assistance to those in need during an emergency.
People should not be allowed to stand by and just be bystanders during an
emergency. If a person is dying, others should not be able to just let them die without trying to

2 Gallo
lend a helping hand and try to save them. For example, in the article, Good Samaritans USA
are Afraid to Act, the author states law students are taught that if someone is choking on a
chicken bone in a restaurant, not only are other patrons not required to give the heimlich
maneuver, call an ambulance, or give CPR, but they could, without violating any law, even
dance around singing CHICKEN BONE CHICKEN BONE CHOKING ON A CHICKEN
BONE!(Bloom, 2). This quote implies that others should not be able to just stand by and watch
during an emergency. Also, this quote represents how people are not only allowed to watch
someone going through an emergency, but they can actually mock their situation and still not
break any laws. People that are in certain careers that have to do with public safety on the other
hand have an exception to the no duty law. In the article, Can Law Make us be Decent, Jay
Sterling Silver states police officers, firefighters, doctors, emergency workers and others have
legal or other requirements to help sometimes even when they are off-duty(Silver, 2). If people
in these careers are required to render assistance to those in need during an emergency, other
people should have similar requirements. Instead of standing by and watching, civilians should
be required to help to the best of their abilities.
Overall, I agree with the authors viewpoint on a law that could make us decent. By
including the word decent, the title implies that helping others is the right thing to do and that
people should be required to do it. People ignoring others during an emergency is a real issue in
modern society and it needs to be stopped.