I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4152 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify liability protections 

regarding emergency use of automated external defibrillators. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 2, 2015 

Mr. OLSON (for himself and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify liability 

protections regarding emergency use of automated external defibrillators. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cardiac Arrest Sur5 vival Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Establishing a nationally uniform baseline 

9 of protection from civil liability for persons who use 

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1 ferred to as ‘‘AEDs’’) in perceived medical emer2 gencies, who own or hold other property interests in 

3 AEDs used in perceived medical emergencies, or who 

4 own, occupy, or manage premises in which an AED 

5 is used or from which an AED is taken for use in 

6 a perceived medical emergency will encourage the 

7 deployment of additional AEDs, which will ulti8 mately save lives that would otherwise have been lost 

9 to cardiac arrest. 

10 (2) The current patchwork of State ‘‘Good Sa11 maritan’’ laws provides incomplete, inconsistent, 

12 and, in some instances, inadequate protection for en13 tities considering the acquisition or deployment of 

14 AEDs. In these circumstances, concerns about po15 tential liability resulting from the good-faith acquisi16 tion and deployment of this life-saving technology 

17 are inhibiting its deployment. 

18 (3) Such concerns are especially acute for enti19 ties with operations or facilities in multiple States, 

20 yet such entities are also among those in which the 

21 widespread deployment of AEDs would be most ben22 eficial. 

23 (4) A nationally uniform baseline of protection 

24 from civil liability is needed for persons who use 

25 AEDs in perceived medical emergencies, who own or 


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1 hold other property interests in AEDs used in per2 ceived medical emergencies, or who own, occupy, or 

3 manage premises in which an AED is used or from 

4 which an AED is taken for use in a perceived med5 ical emergency. 

6 SEC. 3. LIABILITY REGARDING EMERGENCY USE OF AUTO7 MATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS. 

8 Section 248 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 238q) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 248. LIABILITY REGARDING EMERGENCY USE OF 

11 AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS. 

12 ‘‘(a) GOOD SAMARITAN PROTECTIONS.—Except as 

13 provided in subsection (e), in the case of a person who— 

14 ‘‘(1) uses or attempts to use an automated ex15 ternal defibrillator device on a victim of a perceived 

16 medical emergency, and 

17 ‘‘(2) is not the owner-acquirer (as defined in 

18 subsection (c)(2)) of the device, 

19 such person is immune from civil liability for any harm 

20 resulting from the use or attempted use of such device 

21 by such person. 

22 ‘‘(b) PREMISES OWNER/LESSEE/MANAGER PROTEC23 TIONS.—Except as provided in subsection (e), in the case 

24 of a person who— 


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1 ‘‘(1) owns, occupies under a lease or similar ar2 rangement, or manages— 

3 ‘‘(A) the premises at which an automated 

4 external defibrillator device is used or at5 tempted to be used on a victim of a perceived 

6 medical emergency, or 

7 ‘‘(B) the premises from which an auto8 mated external defibrillator device used or at9 tempted to be used on a victim of a perceived 

10 medical emergency is taken for such use, and 

11 ‘‘(2) is not the owner-acquirer of such device, 

12 such person is immune from civil liability for any harm 

13 resulting from such use or attempted use of such device. 

14 ‘‘(c) DEVICE OWNER-ACQUIRER PROTECTIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub16 section (e), an owner-acquirer of an AED is immune 

17 from civil liability for any harm resulting from the 

18 use or attempted use of such device, unless the harm 

19 was proximately caused by the failure of the owner20 acquirer to properly maintain the device according to 

21 the guidelines of the device manufacturer. 

22 ‘‘(2) OWNER-ACQUIRER DEFINED.—For pur23 poses of this section, the term ‘owner-acquirer’ 

24 means any person who owns or has otherwise ac25 quired a possessory property interest in an AED 


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1 that is used or attempted to be used on a victim of 

2 a perceived medical emergency. 

3 ‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY OF IMMUNITY IN CERTAIN CIR4 CUMSTANCES.—The immunity provided by subsections 

5 (a), (b), and (c) of this section shall apply regardless of 

6 whether— 

7 ‘‘(1) the AED that is used or attempted to be 

8 used is marked with or accompanied by cautionary 

9 signage; 

10 ‘‘(2) the AED that is used or attempted to be 

11 used is registered with any government; 

12 ‘‘(3) the person who used or attempted to use 

13 the AED saw, read, understood, complied with, or 

14 attempted to comply with any cautionary signage 

15 present; 

16 ‘‘(4) the person who used or attempted to use 

17 the AED had received any training relating to the 

18 use of (a) AEDs in general or (b) the particular 

19 AED used or attempted to be used; or 

20 ‘‘(5) the person who used or attempted to use 

21 the AED was assisted or supervised by any other 

22 person, including but not limited to a licensed physi23 cian. 

24 ‘‘(e) INAPPLICABILITY OF IMMUNITY IN CERTAIN

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1 trary in subsection (d) of this section, immunity under 

2 subsection (a), (b), or (c)(1) does not apply to a person 

3 if— 

4 ‘‘(1) such person’s willful or criminal mis5 conduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a 

6 conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safe7 ty of the victim proximately caused the harm in8 volved; 

9 ‘‘(2) such person is a licensed or certified health 

10 professional who used the automated external 

11 defibrillator device while acting within the scope of 

12 the license or certification of the professional and 

13 within the scope of the employment or agency of the 

14 professional; 

15 ‘‘(3) such person is a hospital, clinic, or other 

16 entity whose purpose is providing health care di17 rectly to patients, and the harm was caused by an 

18 employee or agent of the entity who used the device 

19 while acting within the scope of the employment or 

20 agency of the employee or agent; or 

21 ‘‘(4) such person is an owner-acquirer of the 

22 device who leased the device to a health care entity 

23 (or who otherwise provided the device to such entity 

24 for compensation without selling the device to the 

25 entity), and the harm was caused by an employee or 


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1 agent of the entity who used the device while acting 

2 within the scope of the employment or agency of the 

3 employee or agent. 

4 ‘‘(f) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The following apply with 

6 respect to this section: 

7 ‘‘(A) This section does not establish any 

8 cause of action, or require that an automated 

9 external defibrillator device be placed at any 

10 building or other location. This section does not 

11 preempt any State law requiring that an auto12 mated external defibrillator be placed at any 

13 building or other location. 

14 ‘‘(B) With respect to the class of persons 

15 for which this section provides immunity from 

16 civil liability, this section preempts the law of 

17 any State to the extent that the otherwise-appli18 cable State law would allow for civil liability in 

19 any circumstance where this section would pro20 vide immunity from civil liability. This section 

21 does not preempt any State law providing im22 munity from civil liability in any circumstance 

23 for which this section would not provide such 

24 immunity. 


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1 ‘‘(C) This section does not waive any pro2 tection from liability for Federal officers or em3 ployees under— 

4 ‘‘(i) section 233 of this title; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) sections 1346(b), 2672, and 

6 2679 of title 28, United States Code, or 

7 under alternative benefits provided by the 

8 United States where the availability of 

9 such benefits precludes a remedy under 

10 section 1346(b) of such title 28. 

11 ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTIONS UNDER FEDERAL LAW.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The applicability of 

13 subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) includes 

14 applicability to any action for civil liability de15 scribed in subsection (a), (b), or (c) that arises 

16 under Federal law. 

17 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL AREAS ADOPTING STATE

18 LAW.—If a geographic area is under Federal 

19 jurisdiction and is located within a State but 

20 out of the jurisdiction of the State, and if, pur21 suant to Federal law, the law of the State ap22 plies in such area regarding matters for which 

23 there is no applicable Federal law, then an ac24 tion for civil liability described in subsection 

25 (a), (b), or (c) that in such area arises under 


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1 the law of the State is subject to subsections 

2 (a) through (f) in lieu of any related State law 

3 that would apply in such area in the absence of 

4 this subparagraph. 

5 ‘‘(g) FEDERAL JURISDICTION.— 

6 ‘‘(1) In any civil action arising under State law, 

7 the courts of the State involved have jurisdiction to 

8 apply the provisions of this section. 

9 ‘‘(2) The actual, asserted, or potential applica10 tion of any provision of this section in any civil ac11 tion or as to any civil claim shall not establish the 

12 original jurisdiction of the Federal courts over such 

13 action or claim under section 1331 of title 28, 

14 United States Code. 

15 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) PERCEIVED MEDICAL EMERGENCY.—For 

17 purposes of this section, the term ‘perceived medical 

18 emergency’ means circumstances in which the behav19 ior of an individual leads a reasonable person to be20 lieve that the individual is experiencing a life-threat21 ening medical condition that requires an immediate 

22 medical response regarding the heart or other 

23 cardiopulmonary functioning of the individual. 

24 ‘‘(2) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 

25 this section: 


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1 ‘‘(A) The term ‘automated external 

2 defibrillator device’ or ‘AED’ means a 

3 defibrillator device that— 

4 ‘‘(i) is commercially distributed in ac5 cordance with the Federal Food, Drug, 

6 and Cosmetic Act; 

7 ‘‘(ii) is capable of recognizing the 

8 presence or absence of ventricular fibrilla9 tion, and is capable of determining without 

10 intervention by the user of the device 

11 whether defibrillation should be performed; 

12 ‘‘(iii) upon determining that defibrilla13 tion should be performed, is able to deliver 

14 an electrical shock to an individual; and 

15 ‘‘(iv) in the case of a defibrillator de16 vice that may be operated in either an 

17 automated or a manual mode, is set to op18 erate in the automated mode. 

19 ‘‘(B) The term ‘cautionary signage’ means, 

20 with respect to an AED, any verbal or non21 verbal markings or language purporting to limit 

22 use of the AED by members of the general pub23 lic or to permit use of the AED only by persons 

24 with specific skills, qualifications, or training. 


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1 ‘‘(C)(i) The term ‘harm’ includes physical, 

2 nonphysical, economic, and noneconomic losses. 

3 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘economic loss’ means any 

4 pecuniary loss resulting from harm (including 

5 the loss of earnings or other benefits related to 

6 employment, medical expense loss, replacement 

7 services loss, loss due to death, burial costs, and 

8 loss of business or employment opportunities) 

9 to the extent recovery for such loss is allowed 

10 under applicable State law. 

11 ‘‘(iii) The term ‘noneconomic losses’ means 

12 losses for physical and emotional pain, suf13 fering, inconvenience, physical impairment, 

14 mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoy15 ment of life, loss of society and companionship, 

16 loss of consortium (other than loss of domestic 

17 service), hedonic damages, injury to reputation 

18 and all other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or 

19 nature.’’. 

Æ 


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