Lawmaker wants to make it easier for people to access, use defibrillators

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By MICHELLE PRICE
Cronkite News Service

PHOENIX (Wednesday, Feb. 11) _ Every second counts when someone is having a heart attack, and a state lawmaker wants to make it more appealing for businesses to install life-saving automated external defibrillators and for people to use them.

Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, has introduced a bill that would allow anyone trying to help to use the AEDs, which she calls user friendly.

“I think it’s important that we remove the barriers to people coming to the aid of a person who needs emergency care.” Barto said. “I think this addresses it in a common-sense way.”

On Wednesday, the House Health and Human Services Committee unanimously endorsed HB 2399.

Under the current state law, only medical personnel, first responders and those trained to use the devices are allowed to use AEDs, which are required in new or renovated state buildings.

Barto’s bill would fix a flaw in a new law that shields Good Samaritans from liability if they use the devices. That law didn’t make it legal for everyone to use AEDs.

Individuals and organizations that install AEDs are currently exempt from lawsuits as long as the devices are in working order. Barto’s bill would remove that condition, giving owners complete protection as long as there wasn’t negligence or misconduct on their part.

Removing that liability comes with the assumption that most, if not all, AEDs will be maintained, said Tim Vaske, the director of government affairs for the American Heart Association in Arizona.

“It is a first step, so they would be no worse off than if they had a heart attack in a place without an AED,” he said.

If the fear of lawsuits is removed, more places might install AEDs, said Dr. Ben Bobrow, an emergency physician at the Mayo Clinic Hospital.

“One person every hour suffers a cardiac arrest in Arizona,” he said to lawmakers.