‘‘(3) Ensuring coordination with appropriate li-
censed professionals in the oversight of training of the
devices.
‘‘(4) Ensuring coordination with local emergency
medical systems regarding the placement and inci-
dents of use of the devices.
‘‘(c) CONSULTATIONS; CONSIDERATION
OF CERTAIN
RECOMMENDATIONS.—In carrying out this section, the Sec-
retary shall—
‘‘(1) consult with appropriate public and private
entities;
‘‘(2) consider the recommendations of national
and local public-health organizations for improving
the survival rates of individuals who experience car-
diac arrest in nonhospital settings by minimizing the
time elapsing between the onset of cardiac arrest and
the initial medical response; and
‘‘(3) consult with and counsel other Federal
agencies where such devices are to be used.
‘‘(d) DATE CERTAIN FOR ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES
AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Secretary shall comply
with this section not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act of 2000.
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:
‘‘(1) The term ‘automated external defibrillator
device’ has the meaning given such term in section
248.
‘‘(2) The term ‘Federal building’ includes a
building or portion of a building leased by a Federal
agency, and includes buildings on military installa-
tions of the United States.’’.
SEC. 4. GOOD SAMARITAN PROTECTIONS REGARDING
EMERGENCY USE OF AUTOMATED EXTERNAL
DEFIBRILLATORS.
Part B of title II of the Public Health Service Act,
as amended by section 3 of this Act, is amended by adding
at the end the following section:
‘‘LIABILITY REGARDING EMERGENCY USE OF AUTOMATED
EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS
‘‘SEC. 248. (a) GOOD SAMARITAN PROTECTIONS RE-
GARDING AEDS.—Except as provided in subsection (b),
any person who uses an automated external defibrillator
device on a victim of a perceived medical emergency is im-
mune from civil liability for any harm resulting from the
use of such device; and in addition, any person who ac-
quired the device is immune from such liability, if the harm
was not due to the failure of such acquirer of the device—
‘‘(1) to notify local emergency response personnel
or other appropriate entities of the most recent place-
ment of the device within a reasonable period of time
after the device was placed;
‘‘(2) to properly maintain and test the device; or
‘‘(3) to provide appropriate training in the use
of the device to an employee or agent of the acquirer
when the employee or agent was the person who used
the device on the victim, except that such requirement
of training does not apply if—
‘‘(A) the employee or agent was not an em-
ployee or agent who would have been reasonably
expected to use the device; or
‘‘(B) the period of time elapsing between the
engagement of the person as an employee or
agent and the occurrence of the harm (or between
the acquisition of the device and the occurrence
of the harm, in any case in which the device was
acquired after such engagement of the person)
was not a reasonably sufficient period in which
to provide the training.
‘‘(b) INAPPLICABILITY
OF
IMMUNITY.—Immunity
under subsection (a) does not apply to a person if—
‘‘(1) the harm involved was caused by willful or
criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless mis-
conduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the
rights or safety of the victim who was harmed; or
‘‘(2) the person is a licensed or certified health
professional 
who 
used 
the 
automated 
external
defibrillator device while acting within the scope of
the license or certification of the professional and
within the scope of the employment or agency of the
professional; or
‘‘(3) the person is a hospital, clinic, or other
health care entity, and the harm was caused by an
employee or agent of the entity who used the device
while acting within the scope of the employment or
agency of the employee or agent; or
‘‘(4) the person is an acquirer of the device who
leased the device to a health care entity (or who other-
wise provided the device to such entity for compensa-
tion without selling the device to the entity), and the
harm was caused by an employee or agent of the enti-
ty who used the device while acting within the scope
of the employment or agency of the employee or agent.
‘‘(c) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The following applies with
respect to this section:
‘‘(A) This section does not establish any
cause of action, or require that an automated ex-
ternal defibrillator device be placed at any build-
ing or other location.
‘‘(B) With respect to a class of persons for
which this section provides immunity from civil
liability, this section supersedes the law of a
State only to the extent that the State has no
statute or regulations that provide persons in
such class with immunity for civil liability aris-
ing from the use by such persons of automated
external defibrillator devices in emergency situa-
tions (within the meaning of the State law or
regulation involved).
‘‘(C) This section does not waive any pro-
tection from liability for Federal officers or em-
ployees under—
‘‘(i) section 224; or
‘‘(ii) sections 1346(b), 2672, and 2679
of title 28, United States Code, or under al-
ternative benefits provided by the United
States where the availability of such benefits
precludes a remedy under section 1346(b) of
title 28.
‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTIONS UNDER FEDERAL LAW.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The applicability of
subsections (a) and (b) includes applicability to
any action for civil liability described in sub-
section (a) that arises under Federal law.
‘‘(B) FEDERAL
AREAS
ADOPTING
STATE
LAW.—If a geographic area is under Federal ju-
risdiction and is located within a State but out
of the jurisdiction of the State, and if, pursuant
to Federal law, the law of the State applies in
such area regarding matters for which there is
no applicable Federal law, then an action for
civil liability described in subsection (a) that in
such area arises under the law of the State is
subject to subsections (a) through (c) in lieu of
any related State law that would apply in such
area in the absence of this subparagraph.
‘‘(d) FEDERAL JURISDICTION.—In any civil action
arising under State law, the courts of the State involved
have jurisdiction to apply the provisions of this section ex-
clusive of the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States.
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—
‘‘(1) PERCEIVED
MEDICAL
EMERGENCY.—For
purposes of this section, the term ‘perceived medical
emergency’ means circumstances in which the behav-
ior of an individual leads a reasonable person to be-
lieve that the individual is experiencing a life-threat-
ening medical condition that requires an immediate
medical response regarding the heart or other
cardiopulmonary functioning of the individual.
‘‘(2) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this
section:
‘‘(A) 
The 
term 
‘automated 
external
defibrillator device’ means a defibrillator device
that—
‘‘(i) is commercially distributed in ac-
cordance with the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act;
‘‘(ii) is capable of recognizing the pres-
ence or absence of ventricular fibrillation,
and is capable of determining without
intervention by the user of the device wheth-
er defibrillation should be performed;
‘‘(iii) 
upon 
determining 
that
defibrillation should be performed, is able to
deliver an electrical shock to an individual;
and
‘‘(iv) in the case of a defibrillator de-
vice that may be operated in either an auto-
mated or a manual mode, is set to operate
in the automated mode.
‘‘(B)(i) The term ‘harm’ includes physical,
nonphysical, economic, and noneconomic losses.
‘‘(ii) The term ‘economic loss’ means any
pecuniary loss resulting from harm (including
the loss of earnings or other benefits related to
employment, medical expense loss, replacement
services loss, loss due to death, burial costs, and
loss of business or employment opportunities) to
the extent recovery for such loss is allowed under
applicable State law.
‘‘(iii) The term ‘noneconomic losses’ means
losses for physical and emotional pain, suffering,
inconvenience, physical impairment, mental an-
guish, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life,
loss of society and companionship, loss of consor-
tium (other than loss of domestic service), he-
donic damages, injury to reputation and all
other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or na-
ture.’’.
Union Calendar No. 349
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2498
[Report No. 106–634]
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide
for recommendations of the Secretary of Health
and Human Services regarding the placement of
automatic external defibrillators in Federal build-
ings in order to improve survival rates of individ-
uals who experience cardiac arrest in such build-
ings, and to establish protections from civil liabil-
ity arising from the emergency use of the devices.
MAY 23, 2000
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed