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Closed Make it a crime to purposely delay ringing the emergency services

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I believe it should be a crime for a person to purposely delay ringing the emergency services in a medical emergency. I would like the Government to introduce legislation to make this a crime.

10,385 signatures

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100,000

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  • Government responded to this petition

    Currently, the Government has no plans to legislate to make it a crime to delay calling emergency services during a medical emergency.

    Read the response in full

    The Government recognises the concerns raised by the petitioner, who seeks to make it a criminal offence for a person to deliberately delay calling emergency services, when witnessing a person in need of medical attention. The Government understands, that in many situations, a failure to act might feel morally wrong.

    At present, the Government has no plans to introduce legislation that would make it a criminal offence to delay contacting emergency services during a medical emergency.

    In England and Wales, there is currently no general legal duty requiring members of the public to call emergency services in such situations. However, a duty of care may arise under specific circumstances. For example, between a parent and a child, between spouses or between a caregiver and an elderly person. If a duty of care exists and there is a negligent breach of that duty - and that breach significantly contributed to that person’s death - then an individual may be prosecuted for gross negligence manslaughter.

    There are practical challenges to imposing a duty (backed by a criminal sanction) on all individuals to contact emergency services during medical emergencies. For example, it might be difficult for a stranger to determine whether there is a medical emergency and there may also be situations where it might endanger the person to make such a call.

    Ministry of Justice

  • Petition closed

  • Government will respond to this petition

    This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 10 July 2025.