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Ontario MPP wants to reduce legal fear over defibrillator use
April 7, 2006
Worth repeating from CBC
News:
Ontario politician Bruce Crozier has moved a step closer in his campaign to save lives by increasing access to automated external heart defibrillators.
Crozier, a Liberal MPP, believes that businesses
are reluctant to install the devices because
they fear they could be sued if someone uses
the defibrillators (AEDs) in an emergency.
He
introduced a private member's bill in February
that would protect anyone who uses the equipment from being sued.
"The idea is if you're in your son's hockey
arena, and you see someone down ... there's
no hesitation about liability as a means
to stop you in terms of intervening," Laura
Syron, an official with the Heart
and Stroke Foundation, told the Canadian Press.
Although private member's bills usually
don't get passed, the Heart
Defibrillator Use Civil Liability Act received second reading
on Thursday.
Crozier thinks the Liberal government will
support the bill in its crucial third reading.
More than 6,500 people
die of a sudden cardiac arrest – when the heart stops suddenly – every
year in Ontario.
An AED assesses the heart's situation and,
if necessary, provides an electric shock
that can restore a normal heart beat.
via: CBC
News
related Marketplace stories: Heart
of the Matter
related murmurs: New CPR guidelines
easier to do, remember
murmur categories: health
tags: consumers consumer news consumerism health heart disease CPR first aid
posted by Tessa
| 9:19 AM (ET) | Permalink
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