Yesterday over dinner, a doctor related a story of a friend who was on an airplane when another passenger fell ill. The friend helped the ill passenger, but when the airline offered a free first class upgrade as thanks, she declined: The friend thought that this might deprive her of the protection of a “Good Samaritan” law, so that if the other passenger believed that she had been negligent in taking care of him, she could be sued for malpractice.

It turns out, though, that the friend could have taken the upgrade with little worry. The relevant law here — at least as to American air carriers (the matter is less certain as to the U.S. law applicable on foreign air careers) — is the federal Aviation Medical Assistance Act of 1998, sec. 5(b), which provides:

An individual shall not be liable for damages in any action brought in a Federal or State court arising out of the acts or omissions of the individual in providing or attempting to provide assistance in the case of an in-flight medical emergency unless the individual, while rendering such assistance, is guilty of gross negligence or willful misconduct.