WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Pete Olson (R-Sugar Land) today announced that 20 heart advocacy organizations affiliated with the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Coalition, including the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, have endorsed his legislation, H.R. 3511, the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act.
Olson's bill will help increase the survival rate from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) through development of a nationally uniform baseline of protection for persons who use an automatic external defibrillator (AED) in an attempt to save a life.
"Quick use of AEDs saves lives," Rep. Pete Olson said. "This common sense legislation provides peace of mind for Good Samaritans. By removing the threat of unnecessary lawsuits, this bill will encourage greater deployment of AEDs in public and private establishments. Wider use of AEDs will reduce response times and could save an additional 36,000 lives per year."
Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of Medicine at the GW Medical Center & Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at GW Hospital said," "This year more than 300,000 Americans will die from SCA, a staggering number equivalent to the population of a city the size of Pittsburgh. The Cardiac Arrest Survival Act of 2011 (HR 3511) introduced by Rep. Pete Olson will create a uniform base of liability protection for AED owners and Good Samaritan responders. This bill has been endorsed by 20 national organizations and has the potential to save thousands of lives every year."
SCA strikes roughly 295,000 individuals a year - people of all ages, races and physical health. Approximately 70 percent of those victims could be saved if someone intervenes and responds by engaging the emergency system, performing CPR and locating and using an AED. Sadly, survival rates for out-of-hospital SCA victims have remained a low eight percent for thirty years. Immediate CPR and early defibrillation, using an AED, can more than double a patient's chance of survival, but only if a person acts.
The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation strongly supports HR 3511. "If passed, this legislation could be a major breakthrough in the quest to save lives threatened by sudden cardiac arrest," said Mary Newman, President of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, a member of the SCA Coalition Steering Committee. "As an organization whose mission it is "to raise awareness and give 'ordinary people' the power to save a life," we urge survivors and other advocates to contact their representatives in Congress, asking them to support this important lifesaving measure."