New Mexico AED Law

H.B. 375 - Effective July 1, 1999

HOUSE BILL 375
44 44TH LEGISLATURE TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION FIRST SESSION, 1999 , 1999
INTRODUCED BY
Edward C. Sandoval
AN ACT
RELATING TO AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS; ENACTING THE
CARDIAC ARREST RESPONSE ACT; PROVIDING CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS
FOR ENTITIES ESTABLISHING A DEFIBRILLATION PROGRAM; REQUIRING
CERTAIN TRAINING FOR DESIGNATED USERS OF A DEFIBRILLATOR;
REQUIRING REGISTRATION OF A DEFIBRILLATION PROGRAM WITH THE
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH; REQUIRING ACTIVATION OF THE EMERGENCY
MEDICAL SERVICES SYSTEM IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION WHERE A
DEFIBRILLATOR IS USED; PROVIDING IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY FOR
CERTAIN PERSONS; AMENDING CERTAIN SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--Sections 1
through 7 of this act may be cited as the "Cardiac Arrest
Response Act".
Section 2. [NEW MATERIAL] FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.--


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A. The legislature finds that:
(1) each year more than three hundred fifty
thousand Americans die from out-of-hospital sudden cardiac
arrest;
(2) the American heart association estimates
that more than twenty thousand deaths could be prevented each
year if early defibrillation were more widely available. In
cardiac arrest the first several minutes are the most crucial
time in which performing defibrillation can significantly
improve chances for survival;
(3) the reality is that even in the best
emergency medical services systems, emergency medical
technicians or first responders may not always be able to
arrive during that critical window of time; and
(4) virtually all communities in New Mexico
have invested in 911 emergency response systems, emergency
medical personnel and ambulance vehicles. However, many of
them do not have enough defibrillators in their community.
B. It is the purpose of the Cardiac Arrest
Response Act to encourage greater acquisition, deployment and
use of automated external defibrillators in communities across
the state.
Section 3. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the
Cardiac Arrest Response Act:
A. "automated external defibrillator and


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semi-automatic external defibrillation (AED)" means a medical
device heart monitor and defibrillator that:
(1) has received approval of its pre-market
modification filed pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 21(k), from the
United States food and drug administration;
(2) is capable of recognizing cardiac arrest
that will respond to defibrillation, ventricular fibrillation
or rapid ventricular tachycardia, and is capable of
determining whether defibrillation should be performed; and
(3) upon determining that defibrillation
should be performed, automatically charges and is capable of
delivering an electrical impulse to an individual's heart;
B. "AED program" means a program of trained
targeted responders operating under the supervision of a
physician medical director and is registered with the
department;
C. "defibrillation" means the administration of a
controlled electrical charge to the heart to restore a viable
cardiac rhythm;
D. "department" means the department of health;
E. "physician" means a doctor of medicine or
doctor of osteopathy who is licensed or otherwise authorized
to practice medicine or osteopathic medicine in New Mexico;
and
F. "trained targeted responder" means a person who


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has completed an authorized AED training program and who uses
an AED.
Section 4. [NEW MATERIAL] PROTECTION OF PUBLIC
SAFETY.--A person who acquires an AED shall ensure that:
A. a physician medical director oversees all
aspects of the defibrillation program, including training,
emergency medical services coordination, protocol approval,
AED deployment strategies and other program requirements, and
that the physician medical director provides overall quality
assurance and reviews each case in which the AED is used by
the program;
B. the trained targeted responder receives
appropriate training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and in
the use of an AED by a nationally recognized course in
cardiopulmonary response and AED use approved by the
department or other training programs authorized by the
department;
C. the defibrillator is maintained and tested
according to the manufacturer's guidelines;
D. any person who renders emergency care or
treatment on a person in cardiac arrest by using an AED
activates the emergency medical system as soon as possible,
and reports any clinical use of the AED to the physician
medical director;
E. the AED program is registered with the


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department; and
F. the local emergency medical services and local
911 agencies have been notified of the AED program.
Section 5. [NEW MATERIAL] AUTHORITY.--Any person may use
an AED if the person has met all the requirements of Section 4
of the Cardiac Arrest Response Act. Nothing in this section
limits the right of an individual to practice a health
profession that the individual is otherwise authorized to
practice under the laws of New Mexico.
Section 6. [NEW MATERIAL] EXEMPTION.--Nothing in the
Cardiac Arrest Response Act precludes a physician from
prescribing an AED to a patient for use by the patient's
caregiver on an individual patient and the use does not
require the individual to function in an approved program.
Section 7. [NEW MATERIAL] LIMITED IMMUNITY
PROTECTIONS.--
A. A physician medical director of an AED program,
a person who provides training in cardiopulmonary
resuscitation and the use of an AED and a person responsible
for a defibrillation program are immune from civil liability
for any personal injury or death that results from any act or
failure to act that does not amount to willful or wanton
misconduct or gross negligence provided there is compliance
with the requirements of the Cardiac Arrest Response Act.
B. An owner of the property or facility where an

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department; and
F. the local emergency medical services and local
911 agencies have been notified of the AED program.
Section 5. [NEW MATERIAL] AUTHORITY.--Any person may use
an AED if the person has met all the requirements of Section 4
of the Cardiac Arrest Response Act. Nothing in this section
limits the right of an individual to practice a health
profession that the individual is otherwise authorized to
practice under the laws of New Mexico.
Section 6. [NEW MATERIAL] EXEMPTION.--Nothing in the
Cardiac Arrest Response Act precludes a physician from
prescribing an AED to a patient for use by the patient's
caregiver on an individual patient and the use does not
require the individual to function in an approved program.
Section 7. [NEW MATERIAL] LIMITED IMMUNITY
PROTECTIONS.--
A. A physician medical director of an AED program,
a person who provides training in cardiopulmonary
resuscitation and the use of an AED and a person responsible
for a defibrillation program are immune from civil liability
for any personal injury or death that results from any act or
failure to act that does not amount to willful or wanton
misconduct or gross negligence provided there is compliance
with the requirements of the Cardiac Arrest Response Act.
B. An owner of the property or facility where an


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AED is located is immune from civil liability for any personal
injury or death that results from any act or failure to act
that does not amount to willful or wanton misconduct or gross
negligence; provided there is compliance with the requirements
of the Cardiac Arrest Response Act.
C. An AED trained targeted responder is immune
from civil liability for any personal injury or death that
results from any act or failure to act if:
(1) the trained targeted responder acts as an
ordinary, reasonable prudent person would act under the same
or similar circumstances;
(2) the trained targeted responder's act or
failure to act does not amount to willful or wanton misconduct
or gross negligence; and
(3) there is compliance with the requirements
of the Cardiac Arrest Response Act.
Section 8. Section 24-10B-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983,
Chapter 190, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
"24-10B-4. BUREAU--DUTIES.--The bureau is designated as
the lead agency for the emergency medical services system and
shall establish and maintain a program for regional planning
and development, improvement, expansion and direction of
emergency medical services throughout the state, including:
A. design, development, implementation and
coordination of communications systems to join the personnel,


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facilities and equipment of a given region or system that will
allow for medical control of pre-hospital or interfacility
care;
B. provision of technical assistance to the [ state
corporation commission] public regulation commission for
further development and implementation of standards for
certification of ambulance services, vehicles and equipment;
C. development of requirements for the collection
of data and statistics to evaluate the availability, operation
and quality of providers in the state;
D. adoption of regulations for medical direction
of a provider or emergency medical services system upon the
recommendation of the medical direction committee, including:
(1) development of model guidelines for
medical direction of all components of an emergency medical
services system;
(2) a process for notifying the bureau of the
withdrawal of medical control by a physician from a provider;
and
(3) specific requirements for medical
direction of intermediate and advanced life support personnel
and basic life support personnel with special skills approval;
E. maintenance of a list of approved emergency
medical services training programs, the graduates of which
shall be the only New Mexico emergency medical services


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students eligible to apply for emergency medical technician
licensure or certified emergency medical services first
responder certification;
F. approval of continuing education programs for
emergency medical services personnel;
G. adoption of regulations pertaining to the
training and certification of emergency medical dispatchers
and their instructors;
H. adoption of regulations based upon the
recommendations of the trauma advisory committee, for
implementation and monitoring of a statewide, comprehensive
trauma care system, including:
(1) minimum standards for designation or
retention of designation as a trauma center or a participating
trauma facility;
(2) pre-hospital care management guidelines
for the triage and transportation of traumatized persons;
(3) establishment for interfacility transfer
criteria and transfer agreements;
(4) standards for collection of data relating
to trauma system operation, patient outcome and trauma
prevention; and
(5) creation of a state trauma care plan;
I. adoption of regulations, based upon the


the certification of air ambulance services;
J. adoption of regulations pertaining to
authorization of providers to honor advance directives to
withhold or terminate care in certain pre-hospital or
interfacility circumstances, as guided by local medical
protocols;
K. development of guidelines, with consultation
from the state fire marshal, pertaining to the operation of
medical-rescue services within the emergency medical services
system; [and]
L. operation of a critical incident stress
debriefing program for emergency responders utilizing
specifically trained volunteers who shall be considered public
employees for the purposes of the Tort Claims Act when called
upon to perform a debriefing; and
M. adoption of rules to establish a cardiac arrest
targeted response program pursuant to the Cardiac Arrest
Response Act, including registration of automated external
defibrillator programs, maintenance of equipment, data
collection, approval of automated external defibrillator
training programs and a schedule of automated external
defibrillator program registration fees. "
Section 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. -- The effective date of the
provisions of this act is July 1, 1999.
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