Today’s question revisits the thorny myth of liability for the installation of automatic defibrillators.   I have been provided with a document, purportedly from a group that says:

2. Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) … due to increasing liability concerns, as well as the training and maintenance needed to legally keep these devices, AEDs should not be installed …. If there is a medical emergency, attendants should immediately call emergency services. Prompt arrival of emergency services is crucial form timely aid. While emergency services are in transit, any willing attendees who are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can assist if a cardiac event is suspected.

3. If you have an AED … please remove and dispose of it according to local regulations or the manufacturer’s instructions…

I’m asked:

Is this a reasonable request based on potential liability?

Surely their availability and saving of attendees at their meeting would be more important than potentially being sued?

The simple answer is no, this is not a reasonable request based on potential liability – see

There is no potential liability for installing a defibrillator.

There are no training requirements to ‘legally’ keep a defibrillator. They are meant to be used by anyone including the untrained. And if there are ‘willing attendees who are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ then they are also trained in the use of an AED.

If there are maintenance requirements to legally keep a defibrillator, they are no more onerous than the legal requirements to keep a fridge, or an urn, or a heater or any other electrical appliance. Treat it in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.  If it’s plugged into a power point it may need to be ‘tested and tagged’, and don’t put it in a sink of water.

If there is a medical emergency early defibrillation is part of the chain of survival

(image credit: St John Ambulance (Victoria) What is the chain of survival (2 November 2016).

The use of a defibrillator is part of the DRSABCD Action plan ideally implemented before the arrival of the emergency services.

In South Australia it will soon be compulsory to install defibrillators in any ‘designated building’ (Automated External Defibrillators (Public Access) Act 2022 (SA) ss 4 and 7). Whether that would include a facility such as a church will depend on the details in any regulations that are yet to be passed.

The reaction is uninformed. They do not explain why there are ‘increasing liability concerns’ but if there are such concerns, they are misplaced.

POST SCRIPT

I have been contacted by the head office of the organisation that, I was told, was the author of the document that I quoted. They tell me that they would be responsible for the publication of any such direction in Australasia but that:

No direction to the effect of the letter has been issued. Moreover, … the putative direction regarding the installation and maintenance of defibrillators does not reflect the guidance provided [by our head office]… Numerous [of our establishments] … have defibrillators, as does our office….’

 Although the document I was given appears to have come from that organisation I accept that, whatever its source, it does not reflect that organisation’s policy in Australasia. I have therefore removed all references to that organisation from the post and accept that whatever the source of the document my correspondent came into possession of and sent to me, it was not endorsed by that organisation in Australasia.

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from (in alphabetical order) the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), the Australian Paramedics Association (Qld), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.