An act relating to health; providing for the use of automatic external defibrillators; providing immunity from civil liability; amending Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 604A.01, subdivision 2.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section
1. Minnesota Statutes 1996, section
604A.01, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Subd.
2. [GENERAL IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY.]
(a) A person who, without compensation
or the expectation of compensation, renders emergency care, advice, or
assistance at the scene of an
emergency
or during transit to a location where professional medical care can be rendered, is not liable for any civil damages
as a result of acts or omissions by that person in rendering the emergency care, advice, or assistance, unless
the person acts in a willful and wanton
or reckless manner in providing the
care, advice, or assistance. This
subdivision does not apply to a person rendering emergency care, advice, or
assistance during the course of regular employment, and receiving compensation
or expecting to receive compensation for rendering the care, advice, or
assistance.
(b) For
the purposes of this section, the scene of an emergency is an area outside the
confines of a hospital or other institution that has hospital facilities, or an
office of a person licensed to practice one or more of the healing arts under
chapter 147, 147A, 148, 150A, or 153.
The scene of an emergency includes areas threatened by or exposed to
spillage, seepage, fire, explosion, or other release of hazardous
materials,
and includes ski areas and trails.
(c) For
the purposes of this section, "person" includes a public or private nonprofit volunteer
firefighter, volunteer police officer,
volunteer ambulance attendant, volunteer first provider of emergency medical
services, volunteer ski patroller, and any partnership, corporation,
association, or other entity.
(d) For the purposes of this section,
"compensation" does not
include payments, reimbursement for expenses, or pension benefits paid to
members of volunteer organizations.
(e) For
purposes of this section, "emergency care" includes providing
emergency medical care by using or providing an automatic external
defibrillator, unless the person on whom the
device is
to be used objects. "Automatic
external defibrillator" means a medical device heart monitor and
defibrillator that:
(1) has
received approval of its premarket notification, filed pursuant to United
States Code, title 21, section 360(k), from the United States Food and Drug
Administration;
(2) is
capable of recognizing the presence or absence of ventricular fibrillation or rapid ventricular tachycardia,
and is capable of determining, without
intervention by an operator, whether defibrillation should be performed; and
(3) upon
determining that defibrillation should be
performed, automatically charges and requests delivery of an electrical impulse to an individual's heart.
Presented to the governor March
20, 1998
Signed by the governor March 23, 1998, 10:58 a.m.