New Federal Legislation Reinforces Need for Automated Defibrillators in More Public Places to Fight Against Leading Killer

October 27, 2000 -- Congress completed work today on legislation requiring federal action that is expected to accelerate the widespread use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in the battle against sudden cardiac arrest, one of the nation's leading killers. Cardiac arrest is a major health problem that claims about 225,000 lives each year.

Both houses of Congress have approved a conference committee's version that constitutes the nation's first legislation recognizing the life-saving role played by AEDs. The Cardiac Arrest Survival Act would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop recommendations and guidelines for AED placement and use in federal buildings nationwide and in post offices and other buildings housing federal agencies. The new law also would augment existing state "Good Samaritan" laws by providing federal liability protection for users and purchasers of AEDs. Most states already have Good Samaritan laws with liability protection for AED users.

If signed into law, the national measure would highlight the need for making AEDs, easy-to-use, portable life-saving devices, the "standard of care" for emergency cardiac situations in public gathering places such as airports, shopping malls, stadiums, convention centers, schools and office buildings.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Sudden cardiac arrest can strike anyone, anywhere and at any time and is usually caused by ventricular fibrillation, an ineffective quivering of the heart muscle that makes it unable to pump blood throughout the body. Once blood stops circulating, victims quickly lose consciousness and will die within minutes if they don't receive effective treatment. Each day nearly 1,000 Americans suffer from sudden cardiac arrest -- usually away from a hospital. More than 95 percent of them die, in many cases, because life-saving defibrillators arrive on the scene too late, if at all.

Sen. Bill Frist, M.D., of Tennessee, a heart surgeon and leading co-sponsor of the new measure, hailed its passage as "a fundamental first step to assure that cardiac arrest is not a death sentence. Widespread placement of defibrillators in federal buildings will save lives, but communities still need to do more. We need to make portable, easy-to-use external defibrillators as readily available as first-aid supplies and fire extinguishers in all major public gathering places."

Survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest drop about 10 percent with each passing minute before defibrillation. As many as 50 percent of cardiac arrest victims could be resuscitated if they were defibrillated within seven minutes or less. Survival can be as high as 90 percent if a victim is defibrillated during the first minute after collapse. AEDs are about the size of a portable laptop computer and provide brief, but powerful, electrical stimulation to the person's chest, interrupting the ventricular fibrillation and helping to restore the heart's natural rhythm.

Richard O. Martin, president of Medtronic Physio-Control, the world's leading manufacturer of easy-to-use, portable heart defibrillators, said his organization is very pleased that Congress has passed the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act.

"The landmark legislation signifies a major vote of confidence in AED therapy," said Martin. "Thousands will owe their lives to the congressional backers of this new law."

This legislation was co-sponsored by more than 130 legislators and was backed by a coalition of more than 30 health care organizations. Martin and Medtronic Physio-Control applauded the congressional leadership team of Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington; Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida; Sen. Frist, and Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont for introducing the bill and ensuring its passage.

President Clinton first announced support for the new legislation in a radio address as part of a new set of measures that included installing defibrillators in federal buildings and airplanes, designed to save the lives of Americans who experience sudden cardiac arrest.

AEDs: New Technology for Saving Lives in More Public Places

More than 40,000 AEDs have been deployed in police cars, commercial airliners, airports, hotels and casinos, sports arenas, high schools, manufacturing plants and other public places. In hearings over the past two years, legislators heard dramatic testimony from cardiac arrest survivors and emergency service directors and viewed a casino surveillance video that showed the rescue of a victim using a Medtronic LIFEPAKŪ 500 automated external defibrillator. The new legislation also supports the American Heart Association's newly published guidelines that urge wider use of defibrillators and encourages communities to adopt a goal of reaching sudden cardiac arrest victims with an AED within five minutes.

Sen. Frist called attention to the efforts of such "heart-safe" cities as Houston, TX, and Bartlesville, OK, and urged that they be cited as models for the rest of the nation. To augment the cities' emergency response systems, AEDs are being deployed throughout these communities.

"Technology has advanced to the point where real people can make a significant difference," said Susan Martenson, R.N., C.E.N., vice president of Jane Phillips Medical Center, Bartlesville, and a cardiopulmonary resuscitation instructor for 32 years.

Using funds received for participation in clinical research, Martenson and Dr. Patrick Tinker, cardiologist, have led Bartlesville's "Project Heart-Save," a community effort of their hospital that has trained more than 300 residents in the city of 35,000 to use AEDs. The program also has placed about 20 of the devices in buildings such as the hospital's wellness center, medical office clusters, the county courthouse, country club, YMCA, the senior nutrition center, a technical college and a shopping mall.

Medtronic Physio-Control notes that the LIFEPAKŪ 500 AED requires no trained medical personnel to administer its lifesaving therapy. Voice and text prompts give step-by-step instructions to the lay responder about what to do if defibrillation is needed.

About Medtronic Physio-Control

Medtronic Physio-Control, headquartered in Redmond, WA, is a unit of Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, the world's leading medical technology company, providing lifelong solutions for people with chronic disease. Its Internet address is www.medtronic.com. Further information is available at www.aedhelp.com.