Why injured Grand Canyon hiker left by 'friends' cannot sue them for what they did

Recently, five friends were hiking together in the Grand Canyon. When one of them suffered a serious injury to his shoulder they phoned the sheriff's office. Then they abandoned him.

When I teach torts at George Washington University Law School, we discuss the "no duty to rescue" doctrine. Under the common law, you are not legally required to assist a person in peril if you had no responsibility for their injury.  There is also no law preventing these adventurers from abandoning a fallen hiker. The law cannot make us better people. 

A recent incident in the Grand Canyon National Park raised some of the underlying issues that we debate in our discussion of this doctrine. A 63-year-old hiker was rescued after he was injured in a fall and his friends left him behind to continue their "backpacking adventure."

The five friends were backpacking on the North Rim of the park when the man fell and seriously injured his shoulder. They were on their third or fourth day out and had another three or four days planned. One of the backpackers called the sheriff’s office. They then left the seriously injured man behind and continued their trip.