STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1377

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   S.B. No. 1675

      S.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1675, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to provide immunity from liability to one who administers an automated external defibrillator in a good faith attempt to resuscitate another person in immediate danger of loss of life.

Specifically, the bill eliminates training in an automated external defibrillator program administered by a physician as a prerequisite for relief from civil liability for a person who administers an automated external defibrillator in a life-saving situation.  This bill also makes the technical change of replacing "automatic" with "automated" throughout the statutory provisions.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health and the American Heart Association.

     Your Committee finds that immediate response to a sudden cardiac arrest is often the difference between life and death.  The development of automated external defibrillators provides an opportunity to speed response time and shorten the time to defibrillation by allowing first responders and the public to use them.  Your Committee also finds that providing immunity from liability to persons who use an automated external defibrillator in an emergency will encourage more widespread use of these life-saving devices, and will lead to greater survival from cardiac arrest in Hawaii.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1675, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

____________________________

JOSHUA B. GREEN, M.D., Chair