Click 2 Houston - Heart Attack Survivor Pushes for law to protect people who use AED

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By Unknown

Sixth-graders Lawrence, Sara, Olivia, Lee and Brighton are 5 totally typical middle school students who are moments from learning how to save a life. But before their training begins, Houstonian and heart attack survivor Scott Corron explains why they're gathered.

"I biked up through here and made it to about right here," Corron recalled.

Corron was riding his bike through Memorial Park when he collapsed.

"I fell off my bike with cardiac arrest. I had no pulse, no breathing and was essentially dead," he said.

Corron says an automated external defibrillator, or AED, saved him. Now he wants to make it easy for businesses to install these lifesaving devices.

"Only 5 percent of hotels and restaurants have AEDs. Many facilities don't actually have them because they're threatened by the laws and believe if they have one they're going to be held to a standard of care of a medical facility and therefore will be at risk," Corron added.

In Texas, anyone who tries to save a life with an AED is protected from being sued if something goes wrong. But that protection doesn't always extend to a business where an AED is located. So Corron went to Houston-area congressman Pete Olson for help to change the law.

Olson says too many companies are afraid to install the devices.

"They're worried about liability. They worry about if they have it in their store somewhere and they try to employ it, they'll be sued," Congressman Olson explained.

Olson's building in Washington, D.C. has an AED. But it can only be used by trained persons because the District of Columbia has a complicated liability law.

Just across the river in Virginia, there are no restrictions. To make the laws uniform in every state, Congressman Olson introduced the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act. It would protect any business that installs an AED, and anyone who uses it, from being sued.

Cardiologist Jonathan Reiner says too many businesses lock AEDs away to avoid lawsuits. But he says scientific research shows they're easy to use.

"These devices are designed to be used by folks who are not trained medical personnel. My favorite study is the study that compared sixth-graders to paramedics," Reiner said.

And that brings us back to our sixth-graders.

WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. set up a test, giving these kids the same directions used in that scientific study.

They timed each kid and with no training, the kids all figured it out, on average, in about two minutes.

That is plenty of time to save a life and similar to what the scientific study found.

"Every kid could do it. Every kid did it correctly the first time and there was no practical difference in the time it took them to do it versus the trained professionals," Reiner explained.

Congressman Olson says the bill won't cost taxpayers a dime and is a rare piece of legislation both Republicans and Democrats can support.

But to pass, he needs more co-signers and is asking citizens to email members of Congress to ask for their support.

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