[First aid responsibility of the physician in Austria according to paragraph 95 of the penal code]

With paragraph 95 of its new Penal Code, Austria has joined the ranks of those countries which, by statutory provision, lay down a general duty, which applies to everyone to render aid in a case of misadventure. This provision is to enhance the principle of rendering aid and assistance to a fellow human being in need, and to obligate everyone to exercise at least a minimum of solidarity with fellow-men and to undertake to save another person in danger of life or limb. The conception in legal policy and juristic application is shown by examples drawn from the literature. A case is reported in detail to demonstrate that the provision is also applicable to the doctor's activity in the hospital, starting out from the relatively wide scope of the concept of "misadventure". 95 of the Austrian Penal Code defines a typical crime by omission, the applicability therefore not being bound to the proof of an injurious outcome. The paper points out the particular difficulty in the differential diagnosis of alcoholisation - cranial trauma.