Washington State's New "911 Good Samaritan"
Law
Researchers at the University of Washington are evaluating the "911 Good Samaritan Law" during its first year of implementation in Seattle to look at the law's legal intent, implementation, and outcomes. This work was commissioned by the Public Health Law Research Program, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This is the first such evaluation of ths type of law in the United States.
Changes in the behavior of drug users, police, and paramedics during heroin overdoses will be reviewed, and the legal intent of the law will be examined through document reviews and interviews with legislators and other stakeholders.
Among the outcomes to be examined are changes in the rates of opioid overdose (fatal and non-fatal); 911 overdose call volume and severity; and naloxone administration by lay persons and medical professionals.
A brief report on the initial evaluation is linked below; the full evaluation will be completed in 2012.
Washington’s 911 Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Law
Initial Evaluation Results, November 2011
Caleb Banta-Green, PhD, MPH, MSW
(Project Director)
UW Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute
calebbg@uw.edu
Phone: (206) 685-3919
Patricia C. Kuszler, MD, JD (Project Director)
UW School of Law
kuszler@uw.edu
Phone: (206) 685-0511
