I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3511 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify liability protections 

regarding emergency use of automated external defibrillators. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 29, 2011 

Mr. OLSON 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 2011’’. 

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 applies 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. 

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

12 for which this section provides immunity from 

13 civil liability, this section preempts the law of 

14 any State to the extent that the otherwise-appli15 cable State law would allow for civil liability in 

16 any circumstance where this section would pro17 vide immunity from civil liability. 

18 ‘‘(C) This section does not waive any pro19 tection from liability for Federal officers or em20 ployees under— 

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

22 ‘‘(ii) sections 1346(b), 2672, and 

23 2679 of title 28, United States Code, or 

24 under alternative benefits provided by the 

25 United States where the availability of 


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1 such benefits precludes a remedy under 

2 section 1346(b) of such title 28. 

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

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

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

6 applicability to any action for civil liability de7 scribed in subsection (a), (b), or (c) that arises 

8 under Federal law. 

9 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL AREAS ADOPTING STATE

10 LAW.—If a geographic area is under Federal 

11 jurisdiction and is located within a State but 

12 out of the jurisdiction of the State, and if, pur13 suant to Federal law, the law of the State ap14 plies in such area regarding matters for which 

15 there is no applicable Federal law, then an ac16 tion for civil liability described in subsection 

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

18 the law of the State is subject to subsections 

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

20 that would apply in such area in the absence of 

21 this subparagraph. 

22 ‘‘(g) FEDERAL JURISDICTION.— 

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

24 the courts of the State involved have jurisdiction to 

25 apply the provisions of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The actual, asserted, or potential applica2 tion of any provision of this section in any civil ac3 tion or as to any civil claim shall not establish the 

4 original jurisdiction of the Federal courts over such 

5 action or claim under section 1331 of title 28, 

6 United States Code. 

7 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.— 

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

9 purposes of this section, the term ‘perceived medical 

10 emergency’ means circumstances in which the behav11 ior of an individual leads a reasonable person to be12 lieve that the individual is experiencing a life-threat13 ening medical condition that requires an immediate 

14 medical response regarding the heart or other 

15 cardiopulmonary functioning of the individual. 

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

17 this section: 

18 ‘‘(A) The term ‘automated external 

19 defibrillator device’ or ‘AED’ means a 

20 defibrillator device that— 

21 ‘‘(i) is commercially distributed in ac22 cordance with the Federal Food, Drug, 

23 and Cosmetic Act; 

24 ‘‘(ii) is capable of recognizing the 

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1 tion, and is capable of determining without 

2 intervention by the user of the device 

3 whether defibrillation should be performed; 

4 ‘‘(iii) upon determining that 

5 defibrillation should be performed, is able 

6 to deliver an electrical shock to an indi7 vidual; and 

8 ‘‘(iv) in the case of a defibrillator de9 vice that may be operated in either an 

10 automated or a manual mode, is set to op11 erate in the automated mode. 

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

13 with respect to an AED, any verbal or non14 verbal markings or language purporting to limit 

15 use of the AED by members of the general pub16 lic or to permit use of the AED only by persons 

17 with specific skills, qualifications, or training. 

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

19 nonphysical, economic, and noneconomic losses. 

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

21 pecuniary loss resulting from harm (including 

22 the loss of earnings or other benefits related to 

23 employment, medical expense loss, replacement 

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

25 loss of business or employment opportunities) 


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1 to the extent recovery for such loss is allowed 

2 under applicable State law. 

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

4 losses for physical and emotional pain, suf5 fering, inconvenience, physical impairment, 

6 mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoy7 ment of life, loss of society and companionship, 

8 loss of consortium (other than loss of domestic 

9 service), hedonic damages, injury to reputation 

10 and all other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or 

11 nature.’’. 

Æ 


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