Emergency Heart Devices "Go Public"

The American Heart Association applauded final passage by the 106th Congress of two major bills expanding the availability of automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, the latest in emergency heart technology that could help save up to 50,000 lives per year.

The two bills, the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act (CASA) and the Rural Access to Emergency Devices Act (Rural AED bill), as components of the Public Health Improvement Act of 2000, are headed for the President's desk to be signed into law. AEDs are compact, easy-to-use emergency medical devices that supply an electrical current to restart the heart of a cardiac arrest victim. AEDs are ideal for use outside a hospital setting.

The Association also applauded the inclusion of the Clinical Research Enhancement Act in the "minibus" health care package which authorizes the National Institutes of Health to create new awards for clinical researchers and for training new clinical investigators. The measure also authorizes funding for NIH's General Clinical Research Centers.

The CASA bill expands public access to AEDs in buildings owned or leased by the federal government. The bill also expands "Good Samaritan" legal protections to AED users and purchasers in a number of states which currently do not have such provisions in place.

The Rural AED bill authorizes the expenditure of up to $25 million in federal funds to help rural communities purchase AEDs and to train rural emergency response crews, including police/fire personnel, to use the devices.

"These bills are true life saving measures," said Dr. Rose Marie Robertson, president of the American Heart Association. She noted that approximately 225,000 Americans die each year from sudden cardiac arrest -- a condition where the electrical rhythms of the heart malfunction, causing the heart to suddenly stop beating.

"Currently we are saving only about five percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims nationally," Dr. Robertson explained. She added, "There is just a small window of opportunity to save the life of a cardiac arrest victim. For every minute that a victim's heartbeat is not restored to its normal rhythm, the victim's chance of survival drops by as much as 10 percent."

Dr. Robertson said that by expanding the availability of AEDs in public places, the nation would be well on its way to increasing the national survival rate for cardiac arrest victims. "If we can increase that overall rate to 20 percent, we can save approximately 50,000 lives each year," she said.

"Early defibrillation is the single most important life-saving maneuver in what the American Heart Association calls the 'chain of survival'," Dr. Robertson explained. "The Association has embraced the 'chain of survival' concept, which is a sequence of events that includes early access to emergency services; basic CPR; early defibrillation; and early advanced life support. The passage of these two bills is a clear sign that Congress recognizes the great value of access to AEDs in saving the lives of thousands of Americans each year," Dr. Robertson said.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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