Help for hearts

A person in cardiac arrest needs people willing and able to help, not people who are afraid of liability.

That's the underlying reason for Assembly Bill 409, which was passed unanimously Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It has already been passed by the Assembly and is expected to go before the full Senate within the next two days.

The bill would protect from liability suits people who use Automated External Defibrillators to assist someone experiencing cardiac arrest. The people must have the proper training to be protected by the bill.

It also would protect the owners of buildings where defibrillators are used to save lives.

The machines, about the size of a phone book, emit a high-voltage electrical charge via two electrodes attached to a person's chest. The device is designed to shock the heart back into normal rhythm when it is in cardiac arrest.

Kathy Deuel has been a proponent of AB409 since her son, David, died on Feb. 6 from a heart attack while playing basketball. He was 13 years old, an avid athlete and never had heart problems in the past.

David Deuel died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, referred to as "sudden cardiac arrest." It's a condition in which the heart muscle is enlarged and strained when it pumps and can send a person into cardiac arrest at any time. It affects about one in 500 people, according to the American Heart Association.

Deuel said her son never exhibited any symptoms of the disease, which includes shortness of breath, chest pain, fainting after activity and light-headedness.

He was playing basketball at the Silver Springs Recreational Center in Henderson when his heart went into cardiac arrest.

"Dave turned around, and he fell on his face," Deuel said. "He was only 2 minutes into the game. The fire department came, but it was too late to defibrillate him."

There was no defibrillator machine at the Silver Springs Recreational Center. In fact, no recreational centers in the Las Vegas Valley have the machines. Hotels are beginning to stock them, as are other businesses and agencies, but their availability remains scarce.

The concern on the part of the bill's sponsors was that many facilities do not stock the equipment out of fear that its use would result in a lawsuit if the victim died. AB409 removes that barrier.

"A defibrillator probably would have made a huge difference" for David Deuel, Las Vegas cardiologist Dr. Keith Boman said. "Many times these symptoms are mild and nothing happens until cardiac arrest occurs."

Boman said defibrillators should be available in all places where large groups of people gather, including athletic arenas, office buildings and airports.

Since defibrillators were introduced in Clark County in March 1993, said Richard Hardman, training coordinator for the Clark County Fire Department, they were used 108 times and 73 people survived after being taken to the hospital.

Before the use of the machines, Hardman said there was a 14 percent survival rate when a person went into cardiac arrest. He said defibrillators have increased that percentage to between 55 and 60 percent.

Dan Ahl, chief of security at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Center, said his security guards were trained in the use of defibrillators in November and put them into service in January. They haven't had to use them yet, but over the last five years, six people attending conventions at the center have gone into cardiac arrest, he said.

"This is a balance that's needed in our society," Ahl said. "If you take no action, the person's condition during cardiac arrest won't improve. But if you take action, there is a chance you can save a life."

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