MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2004 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Welfare
By: Senator(s) Nunnelee
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-60-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS IN THE LAW REGARDING THE USE OF AN AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATOR (AED); TO AMEND SECTION 41-60-33, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT AN AED MUST BE MAINTAINED AND TESTED ACCORDING TO THE MANUFACTURER'S OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES; TO PROVIDE ANY AED PLACED FOR PLANNED RESPONSE OR PUBLIC ACCESS RESPONSE IN MISSISSIPPI MUST BE REGISTERED WITH THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH WITHIN THIRTY DAYS OF RECEIPT; TO CREATE NEW SECTION 41-60-37, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE CIVIL IMMUNITY FOR LAY PERSONS AND TRAINED PERSONNEL WHO USE AN AED UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS; TO AMEND SECTION 73-25-37, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING PROVISION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 41-60-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-60-31. As used in Sections 41-60-31 through 41-60-37:
(a) "AED" means an automated external defibrillator, which is a device, heart monitor and defibrillator that:
(i) Has received approval of its premarket notification filed under 21 USCS, Section 360(k) from the United States Food and Drug Administration;
(ii) Is capable of recognizing the presence or absence of ventricular fibrillation, which is an abnormal heart rhythm that causes the ventricles of the heart to quiver and renders the heart unable to pump blood, or rapid ventricular tachycardia, which is a rapid heartbeat in the ventricles and is capable of determining, without intervention by an operator, whether defibrillation should be performed; and
(iii) Upon determining that defibrillation should be performed, automatically charges and advises the operator to deliver hands-free external electrical shock to patients or automatically delivers hands-free external electrical shock to patients to terminate ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia when the heart rate exceeds a preset value.
(b) "Emergency medical services (EMS) notification" means activation of the 911 emergency response system or the equivalent.
(c) "Planned response" means any action taken as part of a predetermined emergency plan of action. Those plans may include, but are not limited to, persons dispatched by emergency medical dispatch services or by emergency medical services, procedures and personnel identified as part of a facility’s guidelines for emergency action, and other individual(s) acting in an official emergency response capacity.
(d) "Public access response" means any action taken by an unanticipated or serendipitous bystander who volunteers to help in an emergency.
(e) "Expected user" means any person who, in the execution of his or her job, is designated to respond in an emergency situation.
SECTION 2. Section 41-60-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-60-33. (1) Any person may use an automated external defibrillator for the purpose of saving the life of another person in sudden cardiac death, subject to the following requirements:
(a) A Mississippi licensed physician must exercise medical control authority over the person using the AED to ensure compliance with requirements for training, emergency medical services (EMS) notification and maintenance;
(b) The person using the AED must have received appropriate training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and in the use of an AED by the American Heart Association, American Red Cross, National Safety Council or other nationally recognized course in CPR and AED use;
(c) The AED must be maintained and tested according to the manufacturer's operational guidelines, and must not operate in a manual mode except when access control devices are in place or when appropriately licensed individuals such as registered nurses, physicians or emergency medical technician-paramedics utilize the AED; * * *
(d) Any person who renders emergency care or treatment on a person in sudden cardiac death by using an AED must activate the EMS system as soon as possible, and report any clinical use of the AED to the licensed physician; and
(e) Any AED placed for planned response or public access response, not including AEDs prescribed for private use by an individual by a physician, in Mississippi must be registered with the State Department of Health, Office of Emergency Planning and Response, within thirty (30) days of receipt. The State Department of Health, Office of Emergency Planning and Response, may promulgate rules and regulations for the placement and registry of AEDs in the State of Mississippi.
SECTION 3. The following shall be codified as Section 41-60-37, Mississippi Code of 1972:
41-60-37. (1) Any lay person who gratuitously and in good faith renders emergency care when medically appropriate by use of or provision of an AED as part of a public access response, without objection of the injured victim or victims thereof, where the person acts as an ordinarily reasonable, prudent person, shall not be liable for any civil damages as a result of any act or omission of acts related to the operation of an AED that do not amount to willful or wanton misconduct or gross negligence.
(2) Any person acting as part of a planned response, who has had appropriate training, including a course in CPR, has demonstrated a proficiency in the use of an AED, and who gratuitously and in good faith renders emergency care when medically appropriate by use of or provision of an AED, with or without compensation, without the objection of the ill or injured victim or victims thereof, in accordance with the provisions of Sections 41-60-31 through 41-60-35, shall be immune from civil liability for any personal injury as a result of that care or treatment, or as a result of any act, or failure to act, in providing or arranging further medical treatment, where the person acts as an ordinary, reasonably prudent person, or with regard to a health care professional, including the licensed physician who reviews and approves the clinical usage, as a reasonably prudent and careful health care provider would have acted, under the same or similar circumstances and the person's actions or failure to act does not amount to willful or wanton misconduct or gross negligence. In addition, any authorized health care professional who prescribes an AED for public or private use, any person who provided training in CPR and in the use of an AED, any purchaser or lessee of an AED, any person responsible for the site where the AED is located and any expected user on the premises shall not be liable for any civil damages as a result of any act or omission of acts related to the operation of an AED that do not amount to willful or wanton misconduct or gross negligence.
SECTION 4. Section 73-25-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
73-25-37. * * * No duly licensed, practicing physician, dentist, registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, certified registered emergency medical technician, or any other person who, in good faith and in the exercise of reasonable care, renders emergency care to any injured person at the scene of an emergency, or in transporting the injured person to a point where medical assistance can be reasonably expected, shall be liable for any civil damages to the injured person as a result of any acts committed in good faith and in the exercise of reasonable care or omissions in good faith and in the exercise of reasonable care by such persons in rendering the emergency care to the injured person.
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SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2004.