LETTERS: LAW CAN SAVE CARDIAC-ARREST VICTIMS

To the editor:

Beginning Aug. 28, Missouri will be a safer place thanks to legislation promoted by the American Heart Association and sponsored by state Rep. Craig Hosmer of Springfield. It isn't a crime bill though. It is a law allowing appropriately trained individuals to use automated external defibrillators to save a victim of sudden cardiac arrest.

Hosmer piloted this legislation in his own home area, and lives have been saved by first responders using AEDs. His efforts led to expansion of the law this year to cover all of Missouri. The American Heart Association's efforts brought passage of AED legislation to 14 states. Each day, more than 1,000 Americans suffer sudden cardiac death, usually away from a hospital. More than 95 percent of them die because lifesaving defibrillators arrive on the scene too late if at all.

Used in cases of sudden cardiac arrest, the devices voice prompt a rescuer through the steps of analyzing a victim. Only if the machine detects one of two lethal heart rhythms will it prompt the rescuer to punch a button and deliver an electrical shock to restore a normal heart rhythm.

Not only are today's AEDs safe and easy to use, they are more portable, easier to maintain and more affordable.

The American Heart Association estimates that 20,000 lives could be saved each year if AEDs were more accessible to first responders.

The association is already training CPR and advanced cardiac life support instructors on how to use AEDs. The training will be available to the public sometime in the fall. In the meantime, communities are raising money to equip their local first responders with AEDs, and companies with large numbers of employees are purchasing the devices.

STEPHEN C. SPURGEON, M.D., President

Heartland Affiliate

American Heart Association

St. Louis