Automatic external defibrillators, AED, is a small lightweight device used to assess a person’s heart rhythm. If necessary, it will administer an electric shock in an attempt to restore a normal heart beat in a cardiac arrest victim.
When a person suffers a sudden cardiac arrest the chance of survival decreases by 7 to 10 % for each minute that passes without defibrillation. The best chance for survival is within the first 4 minutes. The American College of Emergency Physicians supports increased public access to AEDs that is coordinated with community EMS systems and with appropriate training. Having more people who can respond to medical emergencies and are trained to use AEDs will greatly increase survival rates for persons of sudden cardiac arrest. Experts estimate that 100,000 lives could be saved each year if AEDs were widely used.
Fear of legal liability continues to serve unnecessarily as barriers to large scale adoption of public access to AEDs. One clear lesson emerges from a review of case studies. The year 2000, 40,000 AEDs were sold and it doubles every 18 months. As of yet there are no reported instances of lay users being sued for the use of an AED, rather, all law suits revolve around the failure to have or use an AED. AEDs are programmed to recognize different heart rhythms and to make the shock/no shock decision, so that users do not have to. They are designed so that lifesaving defibrillation could by performed as quickly as possible.
The United States Senate and House of Representatives, enacted an Act cited as the “Cardiac Arrest Survival Act of 2000". Section 248 of the Act reads: GOOD SAMARITAN PROTECTIONS REGARDING AEDs: Any person who uses or attempts to use an AED device on a victim of a perceived medical emergency is immune from civil liability for any harm resulting from the use or attempted use of such devices; and in addition, any person who acquired the device is immune from such liability, if the harm was not due to the failure of such acquirer of the device. It does not cover negligence, if harm involved was caused by willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the victim who was harmed.
On September 16, 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that certain AED models may be sold without a prescription. The device is specifically designed for use by lay-persons. Representatives of the National Center for Early Defibrillation and members of it Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survivor Network, testified before the FDA in support of the removal of the prescription requirement. Stating, “we do not believe that the prescription requirement provides significant efficacy or safety benefit for personal purchases and use of AEDs. Indeed, it is an impediment to more widespread availability of this life-saving therapy in the setting where it occurs most often.” Sudden cardiac arrest occurs most often in the home, over the counter sales has the potential to have a strong positive impact on survival nationwide without incurring risk to future sudden cardiac arrest victims or their rescuers.