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Hailey Gaitan

Mr.Keegan

English 2H

28 January 2016

Ethical Responsibility and the Law

The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.

In the article Can the Law Make Us Be Decent? by Jay Sterling Silver he takes the stand that

people should be required to help in emergency situations. He provides tragic stories of times

that no one helped. People should be both lawfully and morally obligated to help in emergency

situations but, there should be laws protecting them in the case that they had good intention but it

turned out bad.

Can the law make us be decent? That is the question posed by the author Jay Silver in his

article, Can the Law Make us Be Decent? in the New York Times in 2012. The question and

the subsequent article discuss the two sides of the question, how much involvement in

emergency situations from bystanders is enough or should we have a law in place that required

bystanders to be involved in emergency situations. On the one hand, the author discusses, the

non-participatory response and lack of involvement from people not wanting to be involved in an

emergency situations. Conversely, the author discusses the possibilities of backlash from people

participating in what he contends is the Good Samaritan response. The difficulty the author

faces is trying to find the happy medium, leading to the question, what is the right amount of

response? and/or how much response is appropriate? The author provides three examples of
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cases where there was no response from neighbors or bystanders, all with horrible outcomes. In

the first case, a woman was caught in the rising flood waters after Hurricane Sandy while

driving. Releasing her 2 and 4 year old sons in hopes of heading for dry land, she and the boys

were separated. Desperately pounding on doors to no answers, her children were swept away

and died. The second instance was a brutal stabbing and the third a rape. In all cases no one

stepped in or helped. These examples within the article provide insight into what can happen

when people do not get involved. People should be required to help in emergency situations but,

there should be a law protecting them in case they had good intention and things went bad.

In dyer need bystanders should offer assistance. The article, A State Champion vs. a

Runners Conscience is about a runner was in a race and his opponent fell and injured himself.

The runner was in the lead but was not sure if we wanted to continue with his race or stop and

help. His final decision was to stop and help but not everyone was happy with that choice. The

article stated I would have felt awful if I had-and that would have smoldered my mind a lot

more of my coach and my team(Hoyle 280). The Runner is discussing how he would have felt

if he did not stop to help. He felt it was the right thing to do. He felt like he was morally

obligated to stop and help even though it was not a requirement. The article, If Decency

Doesnt, Law Should Make Us Samaritans tells the story of the tragedy of Princess Diana. She

was being chased by paparazzi one night and her car crashed. Instead of calling the police and

seeking help the paparazzi took pictures. Due to the lack of medical attention it cost the princess

her life. This is why the authors, Gloria Allred and Lisa Bloom purposed, It is time to join

countries like France and insist there should be legal consequences for turning ones back on

someone in desperate need. They believe bystanders should not only be legally bound to help
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but they should be punished if failure to do so. Without these laws it makes people able to watch

some horrific happen and not help. A man could be shot lying in the street and legally no one has

to call the police or go and help. If you cannot count on someone doing the right thing in these

types of situations there should be a law to force them to.

In emergency situations people should have to help even if it is just by calling the police.

In todays society it is not acceptable that you can watch someone die and not have to do

anything about it. It would not hurt to have to lend a hand when it is really needed.