Substitute Senate Bill No. 318
Substitute Senate Bill No. 318
PUBLIC ACT NO. 98-62
AN ACT CONCERNING GOOD SAMARITAN IMMUNITY FOR
AUTOMATIC EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATOR USE BY A PERSON
WITH PROPER TRAINING.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 52-557b
of the general statutes is repealed and the
following is substituted in lieu thereof:
(a) A person licensed to practice medicine and
surgery under the provisions of chapter 370 or
dentistry under the provisions of section 20-106
or members of the same professions licensed to
practice in any other state of the United States,
a person licensed as a registered nurse under
section 20-93 or 20-94 or certified as a licensed
practical nurse under section 20-96 or 20-97, AS
AMENDED, a medical technician or any person
operating a cardiopulmonary resuscitator or a
person trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation OR
IN THE USE OF AN AUTOMATIC EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATOR
in accordance with the standards set forth by the
American Red Cross or American Heart Association,
who, voluntarily and gratuitously and other than
in the ordinary course of his employment or
practice, renders emergency medical or
professional assistance to a person in need
thereof, shall not be liable to such person
assisted for civil damages for any personal
injuries which result from acts or omissions by
such person in rendering the emergency care, which
may constitute ordinary negligence. The immunity
provided in this subsection does not apply to acts
or omissions constituting gross, wilful or wanton
negligence. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBSECTION,
"AUTOMATIC EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATOR" MEANS A DEVICE
THAT: (1) IS USED TO ADMINISTER AN ELECTRIC SHOCK
THROUGH THE CHEST WALL TO THE HEART; (2) CONTAINS
INTERNAL DECISION-MAKING ELECTRONICS,
MICROCOMPUTERS OR SPECIAL SOFTWARE THAT ALLOWS IT
TO INTERPRET PHYSIOLOGIC SIGNALS, MAKE MEDICAL
DIAGNOSIS AND, IF NECESSARY, APPLY THERAPY; (3)
GUIDES THE USER THROUGH THE PROCESS OF USING THE
DEVICE BY AUDIBLE OR VISUAL PROMPTS; AND (4) DOES
NOT REQUIRE THE USER TO EMPLOY ANY DISCRETION OR
JUDGMENT IN ITS USE.
Sec. 2. Section 19a-175 of the general
statutes, as amended by section 15 of public act
97-311, is repealed and the following is
substituted in lieu thereof:
As used in this chapter:
(1) "Emergency medical service system" means a
system which provides for the arrangement of
personnel, facilities and equipment for the
efficient, effective and coordinated delivery of
health care services under emergency conditions;
(2) "Patient" means an injured, ill, crippled
or physically handicapped person requiring
assistance and transportation;
(3) "Ambulance" means a motor vehicle
specifically designed to carry patients;
(4) "Ambulance service" means an organization
which transports patients;
(5) "Emergency medical technician" means an
individual who has successfully completed the
training requirements established by the
Commissioner of Public Health and has been
certified by the Department of Public Health;
(6) "Ambulance driver" means a person whose
primary function is driving an ambulance;
(7) "Emergency medical technician instructor"
means a person who is certified by the Department
of Public Health to teach courses, the completion
of which are required in order to become an
emergency medical technician;
(8) "Communications facility" means any
facility housing the personnel and equipment for
handling the emergency communications needs of a
particular geographic area;
(9) "Life saving equipment" means equipment
used by emergency medical personnel for the
stabilization and treatment of patients;
(10) "Emergency medical service organization"
means any organization whether public, private or
voluntary which offers transportation or treatment
services to patients under emergency conditions;
(11) "Invalid coach" means a vehicle used
exclusively for the transportation of
nonambulatory patients, who are not confined to
stretchers, to or from either a medical facility
or the patient's home in nonemergency situations
or utilized in emergency situations as a backup
vehicle when insufficient emergency vehicles
exist;
(12) "Rescue service" means any organization,
whether profit or nonprofit, whose primary purpose
is to search for persons who have become lost or
to render emergency service to persons who are in
dangerous or perilous circumstances;
(13) "Provider" means any person, corporation
or organization, whether profit or nonprofit,
whose primary purpose is to deliver medical care
or services, including such related medical care
services as ambulance transportation;
(14) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of
Public Health acting through the Office of
Emergency Medical Services;
(15) "Paramedic" means a person licensed
pursuant to section 11 of [this act] PUBLIC ACT
97-311;
(16) "Commercial ambulance service" means an
ambulance service which primarily operates for
profit;
(17) "Licensed ambulance service" means a
commercial ambulance service issued a license by
the Office of Emergency Medical Services or any
volunteer or municipal ambulance service issued a
license by the Office of Emergency Medical
Services prior to July 1, 1981;
(18) "Certified ambulance services" means a
municipal or volunteer ambulance service issued a
certificate by the Office of Emergency Medical
Services; [and]
(19) "Management service" means an
organization which provides emergency medical
technicians or paramedics to any entity including
an ambulance service but does not include a
commercial ambulance service or a volunteer or
municipal ambulance service; and
(20) "AUTOMATIC EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATOR" MEANS
A DEVICE THAT: (A) IS USED TO ADMINISTER AN
ELECTRIC SHOCK THROUGH THE CHEST WALL TO THE
HEART; (B) CONTAINS INTERNAL DECISION-MAKING
ELECTRONICS, MICROCOMPUTERS OR SPECIAL SOFTWARE
THAT ALLOWS IT TO INTERPRET PHYSIOLOGIC SIGNALS,
MAKE MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS AND, IF NECESSARY, APPLY
THERAPY; (C) GUIDES THE USER THROUGH THE PROCESS
OF USING THE DEVICE BY AUDIBLE OR VISUAL PROMPTS;
AND (D) DOES NOT REQUIRE THE USER TO EMPLOY ANY
DISCRETION OR JUDGMENT IN ITS USE.
Sec. 3. (NEW) (a) Any person in possession of
an automatic external defibrillator shall provide
notice of the location of such defibrillator to
the Office of Emergency Medical Services.
(b) The Office of Emergency Medical Services
shall establish a registry of automatic external
defibrillators located within the state and shall
establish a procedure facilitating the use of the
enhanced 9-1-1 service, as defined in section
28-25 of the general statutes, for the location of
such defibrillator nearest to the caller.
(c) The Commissioner of Public Health may
adopt regulations in accordance with the
provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes
to implement the purposes of the registry
established by this section.
Approved May 19, 1998