Duty to Rescue?

Question.

You're riding the escalator at the mall and the brat ahead of you gets his hand stuck in the escalator, are you required to help?

It's a tough question.

The law says that the nature of some relationships require that a person help another e.g., a mother must help her child; the driver of the vehicle must help the passengers. If your conduct, whether dangerous or innocent, injures a person, you're required to help.

Also, one state (Vermont), passed a "duty-to-rescue" statute that require individuals to rescue as long as they don't jeopardize their safety by doing so. It's only Vermont, but other states are getting on board. Some states have even passed Good Samaritan laws that exonerate botched rescue attempts.

So, what do you think now? Are you required to help?

Reflect on this case from a Montana court. After a boyfriend severely beats his girlfriend, she stabs him out of self-defense and leaves him for dead. Is she required to call attention to his wounds, even after she stabbed him out of self defense?

Indeed she is. And here's the kicker: Isn't it crazy that she is liable for failing to rescue this idiot after the self-defense doctrine allows her to kill him? She should have just finished the job. It would have saved her legal fees.

Anyway, the conclusion is the law usually doesn't compel you to rescue, which begs the question: Well, should it?