No person licensed under this chapter, or members of the same professions licensed to practice in other states of the United States, who voluntarily and gratuitously and other than in the ordinary course of his or her employment or practice renders emergency medical assistance to a person in need of it, shall be liable for civil damages for any personal injuries that result from acts or omissions by these persons in rendering emergency care that may constitute ordinary negligence. This immunity does not apply to acts or omissions constituting gross, willful, or wanton negligence, or when rendered at any hospital, doctors’ offices, or clinic where these services are normally rendered.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-37-14
Exceptions to licensure requirement — Immunity from liability
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Velazquez Ex Rel. Velazquez v. Jiminez (2002)
Most recently applied in 889 F. Supp. 2d 292 - Petro v. Town of West Warwick ex rel. Moore (September 2012)
G.L. 1896, ch. 165, § 6; P.L. 1901, ch. 926, § 3; G.L. 1909, ch. 193, § 6; G.L. 1923, ch. 159, § 6; G.L. 1938, ch. 275, § 6; G.L. 1956, § 5-37-14; P.L. 1963, ch. 138, § 1; P.L. …
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Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Rhode Island General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Rhode Island statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.