To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify liability protections regarding emergency use of automated external defibrillators.
Olson's website has a blurb on it:
- Click here to read it.
Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) and Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) today acted to help save lives impacted by sudden cardiac arrest by introducing H.R. 4152, the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act. This bill will help increase the survival rate from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) by eliminating the threat of frivolous lawsuits through development of a nationally uniform baseline of protection for persons who use an automatic external defibrillator (AED) while attempting to save a life during a medical emergency.
They argue that the possibility that one might be sued for improperly using a defibrillator will suppress the tendency of people to use them. Seems to fit under the general heading of tort reform. Olson's site links to a related interest group - the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation. No word on whether they were involved in the crafting of the bill.
GovTrack gives is a 3% chance of passing into law.
If you'd like more on the Public Health Service Act, click here.
Here's info from Wikipedia:
The act clearly established the federal government's quarantine authority for the first time. It gave the United States Public Health Service responsibility for preventing the introduction, transmission and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States
The act seems to fit along others passed in the FDR Administration broadening the power of the national government, but if you click on the link to the United States Public Health Service you'll note that it was founded in 1798, which makes it one of the oldest agencies in the national government, despite the fact that health care is not one the delegated powers in the U. S. Constitution.
The Wikipedia's entry on the United States Public Health Service walks through the early history of health care policy which gives us idea of how health care slowly evolves from being a state policy to a national one.
- Click here for the history section, if you want more on the subject.
