SENATE, No. 2205

SECTION 1. The furnishing of medical assistance in an emergency is a matter of vital concern affecting the public health, safety and welfare. Pre=hospital emergency medical care, the provision of prompt and effective communication among ambulances and hospitals and safe and effective care and transportation of the sick and injured are essential public health services.

SECTION 2. As used in this section, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

"Automated external defibrillator" or “AED” means a medical device, approved by the United States food and drug administration, that: (i) is capable of recognizing the presence or absence, in a patient, of ventricular fibrillation and rapid ventricular tachycardia; (ii) is capable of determining, without intervention by an operator, whether defibrillation should be performed on the patient; (iii) upon determining that defibrillation should be performed, automatically charges and requests delivery of an electrical impulse to the patient’s heart; and (iv) then, upon action by an operator, delivers an appropriate electrical impulse to the patient’s heart to perform defibrillation;

“municipal agency” means a department, agency, board, or commission of a municipality;

“municipality” shall mean a city or town of the commonwealth;

“public institutions of higher education” means the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell and Worcester; Bridgewater State College, Fitchburg State College, Framingham State College, the Massachusetts College of Art, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Salem State College, Westfield State College, Worcester State College, Berkshire Community College, Bristol Community College, Bunker Hill Community College, Cape Cod Community College, Greenfield Community College, Holyoke Community College, Massachusetts Bay Community College, Massasoit Community College, Middlesex Community College, Mount Wachusett Community College, Northern Essex Community College, North Shore Community College, Quinsigamond Community College, Roxbury Community College and Springfield Technical Community College.

“state agency”, means a department, agency, board, commission, or authority;

SECTION 3. The superintendent of the state bureau of office buildings, shall, in addition to the duties and responsibilities required under chapter 8 or any other chapter of the General Laws or any other special law, shall provide and maintain on-site in each state office building under his control and scope of operations, automated external defibrillator equipment in quantities and types deemed by said superintendent in consultation with the commissioner of the department of public health and the medical doctor as state office buildings physician as appointed pursuant to section 6E of chapter 7 to be adequate to ensure ready and appropriate access for use during emergencies.  Said superintendent shall ensure the presence of at least one staff person who is assigned to each building under his control and scope of operation and has completed training to the standards and guidelines of the American Heart Association in CPR and in the use of AED.

SECTION 4. Each state agency of the commonwealth which occupies, or makes expenditure for the maintenance of, any building, whether state-owned or state-occupied and not under the care and control of the superintendent of the state bureau of office buildings, shall provide and maintain on-site in said building automated external defibrillator equipment in quantities and types deemed by the head of the department in consultation with the commissioner of the department of public health to be adequate to ensure ready and appropriate access for use during emergencies.  The head of each state agency shall ensure the presence of at least one staff person who has completed training to the standards and guidelines of the American Heart Association in CPR and in the use of AED.

SECTION 5.  Public institutions of higher education, public school districts, vocal educational schools, and charter schools shall provide and maintain on-site in  each  school  facility  automated external defibrillator equipment in quantities and types deemed by the commissioner of the department of education in consultation with the commissioner of the department of public health to be adequate to ensure ready and appropriate access for use during emergencies.

Whenever the facilities of public institutions of higher education, school districts, vocal educational schools and charter schools are used for school sponsored or school approved curricular or extracurricular events or activities and whenever a school-sponsored athletic contest is held at any location, the administrators or school officials responsible for such school facility or athletic contest shall ensure the presence of at least one staff person who is assigned to the facility and has completed training to the standards and guidelines of the American Heart Association in CPR and in the use of AED.

SECTION 6.  Each municipal agency which occupies, or makes expenditure for the maintenance of, any building, whether owned or occupied by the municipality, shall provide and maintain on-site in said building automated external defibrillator equipment in quantities and types deemed to be adequate to ensure ready and appropriate access for use during emergencies.  The head of each municipal agency shall ensure the presence of at least one staff person who has completed training to the standards and guidelines of the American Heart Association in CPR and in the use of AED.

SECTION 7. Any person who voluntarily and without expectation of monetary compensation renders first aid or emergency treatment pursuant to sections 1 through 4, inclusive, to a person who is unconscious, ill, or injured, shall not be liable for damages for injuries alleged to have been sustained by such person or for damages for the death of such person alleged to have occurred by reason of an act or omission in the rendering of such emergency treatment unless it is established that such injuries were or such death was caused by gross negligence on the part of such person.