[tweetmeme]
Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is one of the leading causes of death in this country. According to the American Heart Association, SCA claims the lives of over 250,000 people each year – more than all forms of cancer combined.
There is a 4-minute window to defibrillate a person back to life. With paramedics often unable to get to the scene in that time, lives are lost.”A million things can occur to delay 911 responses, such as traffic and remote locations that make it impossible for a paramedic to get to a victim on time,” says Dave Magruder, a former firefighter and paramedic who now trains people on using AEDs. “And for every minute a person experiences SCA without defibrillation, his or her survival rate drops by 7 to 10 percent.”
If a customer suffers Sudden Cardiac Arrest, are you at risk for not having a defibrillator on hand? The answer to this question is of course a topic of some interest to all in the transportation industry today. The consensus among many experts today, is that increasingly your company is in jeopardy after this type of situation. Because of the litigious nature of our society a perception exists, in the mind of the public, that transportation industry providers should be prepared for such eventualities. The Massachusetts Transit Authority $3.9Million lawsuit settlement is a perfect example of the liability you face. The industry clearly is setting a standard of practice to provide AEDs to their customers.
The $3.9 million settlement in case is alleging that MBTA commuter train personnel failed to stop the train to seek emergency medical attention for a passenger suffering cardiac arrest, despite repeated requests and warnings by the other passengers that the man was not breathing and required immediate medical attention. Instead, the train personnel continued to make the scheduled stops and allowed nearly 20 minutes to pass before eventually arriving at the final destination. Tragically, emergency medical attention was provided too late and the passenger died shortly thereafter. “Family settles with ‘T,’ Amtrak for $3.9 million
Is it worth risking a life to not be fully prepared by not having an AED or because you are worried about AED liability? Of course it isn’t.
For information on Think Safe’s AED solutions contact our AED Expert James Moroney.