I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1227 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify liability protections 

regarding emergency use of automated external defibrillators. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2019 

Mr. OLSON (for himself, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. CHENEY, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and 

Mr. DUNN) 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 2019’’. 

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 automated external defibrillators (in this section re2 ferred to as ‘‘AEDs’’) in perceived medical emer3 gencies, who own or hold other property interests in 

4 AEDs used in perceived medical emergencies, or who 

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

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

7 a perceived medical emergency will encourage the 

8 deployment of additional AEDs, which will ulti9 mately save lives that would otherwise have been lost 

10 to cardiac arrest. 

11 (2) The current patchwork of State ‘‘Good Sa12 maritan’’ laws provides incomplete, inconsistent, 

13 and, in some instances, inadequate protection for en14 tities considering the acquisition or deployment of 

15 AEDs. In these circumstances, concerns about po16 tential liability resulting from the good-faith acquisi17 tion and deployment of this life-saving technology 

18 are inhibiting its deployment. 

19 (3) Such concerns are especially acute for enti20 ties with operations or facilities in multiple States, 

21 yet such entities are also among those in which the 

22 widespread deployment of AEDs would be most ben23 eficial. 

24 (4) A nationally uniform baseline of protection 

25 from civil liability is needed for persons who use 


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1 AEDs in perceived medical emergencies, who own or 

2 hold other property interests in AEDs used in per3 ceived medical emergencies, or who own, occupy, or 

4 manage premises in which an AED is used or from 

5 which an AED is taken for use in a perceived med6 ical emergency. 

7 SEC. 3. LIABILITY REGARDING EMERGENCY USE OF AUTO8 MATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS. 

9 Section 248 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

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

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

12 AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS. 

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

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

15 ‘‘(1) uses or attempts to use an automated ex16 ternal defibrillator device on a victim of a perceived 

17 medical emergency; and 

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

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

20 such person is immune from civil liability for any harm 

21 resulting from the use or attempted use of such device 

22 by such person. 

23 ‘‘(b) PREMISES OWNER/LESSEE/MANAGER PROTEC24 TIONS.—Except as provided in subsection (e), in the case 

25 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 

13 harm resulting from such use or attempted use of 

14 such device. 

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

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub17 section (e), an owner-acquirer of an AED is immune 

18 from civil liability for any harm resulting from the 

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

20 was proximately caused by the failure of the owner21 acquirer to properly maintain the device according to 

22 the guidelines of the device manufacturer. 

23 ‘‘(2) OWNER-ACQUIRER DEFINED.—For pur24 poses of this section, the term ‘owner-acquirer’ 

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1 quired a possessory property interest in an AED 

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

3 a perceived medical emergency. 

4 ‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY OF IMMUNITY IN CERTAIN CIR5 CUMSTANCES.—The immunity provided by subsections 

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

7 whether— 

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

9 used is marked with or accompanied by cautionary 

10 signage; 

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

12 used is registered with any government; 

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

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

15 attempted to comply with any cautionary signage 

16 present; 

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

18 the AED had received any training relating to the 

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

20 AED used or attempted to be used; or 

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

22 the AED was assisted or supervised by any other 

23 person, including but not limited to a licensed physi24 cian. 


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1 ‘‘(e) INAPPLICABILITY OF IMMUNITY IN CERTAIN

2 CIRCUMSTANCES.—Notwithstanding anything to the con3 trary in subsection (d) of this section, immunity under 

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

5 if— 

6 ‘‘(1) such person’s willful or criminal mis7 conduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a 

8 conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safe9 ty of the victim proximately caused the harm in10 volved; 

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

12 professional who used the automated external defi13 brillator device while acting within the scope of the 

14 license or certification of the professional and within 

15 the scope of the employment or agency of the profes16 sional; 

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

18 entity whose purpose is providing health care di19 rectly to patients, and the harm was caused by an 

20 employee or agent of the entity who used the device 

21 while acting within the scope of the employment or 

22 agency of the employee or agent; or 

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

24 device who leased the device to a health care entity 

25 (or who otherwise provided the device to such entity 


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1 for compensation without selling the device to the 

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

3 agent of the entity who used the device while acting 

4 within the scope of the employment or agency of the 

5 employee or agent. 

6 ‘‘(f) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

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

8 respect to this section: 

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

10 cause of action, or require that an automated 

11 external defibrillator device be placed at any 

12 building or other location. This section does not 

13 preempt any State law requiring that an auto14 mated external defibrillator be placed at any 

15 building or other location. 

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

17 for which this section provides immunity from 

18 civil liability, this section preempts the law of 

19 any State to the extent that the otherwise-appli20 cable State law would allow for civil liability in 

21 any circumstance where this section would pro22 vide immunity from civil liability. This section 

23 does not preempt any State law providing im24 munity from civil liability in any circumstance 


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1 for which this section would not provide such 

2 immunity. 

3 ‘‘(C) This section does not waive any pro4 tection from liability for Federal officers or em5 ployees under— 

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

7 ‘‘(ii) sections 1346(b), 2672, and 

8 2679 of title 28, United States Code, or 

9 under alternative benefits provided by the 

10 United States where the availability of 

11 such benefits precludes a remedy under 

12 section 1346(b) of such title 28. 

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

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

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

16 applicability to any action for civil liability de17 scribed in subsection (a), (b), or (c) that arises 

18 under Federal law. 

19 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL AREAS ADOPTING STATE

20 LAW.—If a geographic area is under Federal 

21 jurisdiction and is located within a State but 

22 out of the jurisdiction of the State, and if, pur23 suant to Federal law, the law of the State ap24 plies in such area regarding matters for which 

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1 tion for civil liability described in subsection 

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

3 the law of the State is subject to subsections 

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

5 that would apply in such area in the absence of 

6 this subparagraph. 

7 ‘‘(g) FEDERAL JURISDICTION.— 

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

9 the courts of the State involved have jurisdiction to 

10 apply the provisions of this section. 

11 ‘‘(2) The actual, asserted, or potential applica12 tion of any provision of this section in any civil ac13 tion or as to any civil claim shall not establish the 

14 original jurisdiction of the Federal courts over such 

15 action or claim under section 1331 of title 28, 

16 United States Code. 

17 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.— 

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

19 purposes of this section, the term ‘perceived medical 

20 emergency’ means circumstances in which the behav21 ior of an individual leads a reasonable person to be22 lieve that the individual is experiencing a life-threat23 ening medical condition that requires an immediate 

24 medical response regarding the heart or other 

25 cardiopulmonary functioning of the individual. 


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

2 this section: 

3 ‘‘(A) The term ‘automated external defib4 rillator device’ or ‘AED’ means a defibrillator 

5 device that— 

6 ‘‘(i) is commercially distributed in ac7 cordance with the Federal Food, Drug, 

8 and Cosmetic Act; 

9 ‘‘(ii) is capable of recognizing the 

10 presence or absence of ventricular fibrilla11 tion, and is capable of determining without 

12 intervention by the user of the device 

13 whether defibrillation should be performed; 

14 ‘‘(iii) upon determining that defibrilla15 tion should be performed, is able to deliver 

16 an electrical shock to an individual; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) in the case of a defibrillator de18 vice that may be operated in either an 

19 automated or a manual mode, is set to op20 erate in the automated mode. 

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

22 with respect to an AED, any verbal or non23 verbal markings or language purporting to limit 

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1 lic or to permit use of the AED only by persons 

2 with specific skills, qualifications, or training. 

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

4 nonphysical, economic, and noneconomic losses. 

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

6 pecuniary loss resulting from harm (including 

7 the loss of earnings or other benefits related to 

8 employment, medical expense loss, replacement 

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

10 loss of business or employment opportunities) 

11 to the extent recovery for such loss is allowed 

12 under applicable State law. 

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

14 losses for physical and emotional pain, suf15 fering, inconvenience, physical impairment, 

16 mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoy17 ment of life, loss of society and companionship, 

18 loss of consortium (other than loss of domestic 

19 service), hedonic damages, injury to reputation 

20 and all other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or 

21 nature.’’. 

Æ 


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