It is no longer an individual school decision to maintain defibrillators on campus. The Education Law now requires schools to purchase, maintain, and operate defibrillators as an emergency service available for the public. New legislation (N.Y. Educ. Law § 917), titled, “On-site Cardiac Automated External Defibrillators,” is an unfunded mandate requiring school districts, boards of cooperative educational services, county vocational education and extension boards, and charter schools to provide and maintain on-site in each instructional school facility automated external defibrillator equipment (“AED equipment”), as defined by the New York Public Health Law, in “quantities and types deemed by the Commissioner [of Education] in consultation with the Commissioner of Health to be adequate to ensure ready and appropriate access for use during emergencies.” The Public Health Law defines AED equipment as:

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.

Whenever public school facilities are used for school-sponsored or school-approved curricular or extracurricular events or activities, the school must ensure the presence of at least one staff person who is trained in the operation and use of the AED equipment. Additionally, whenever a school-sponsored athletic contest is held at any location, the public school officials and administrators responsible for such school facility or athletic contest must ensure the presence of AED equipment and trained staff to operate the equipment. When a school-sponsored competitive athletic event is held at a site other than a public school facility, the public school officials must assure that AED equipment is provided on-site.

School districts, BOCES, county vocational education and extension boards, and charter schools are now subject to the requirements of the Public Health Law collaborative agreements. N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 3000-b(2). This law requires public access defibrillation providers to possess and operate AED equipment pursuant to a “collaborative agreement” with an emergency health care provider.

These collaborative agreements must be in writing and include written practice protocols, policies and procedures to assure compliance with the N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 3000-b (the provision regulating AED use by public access providers). As public access defibrillator providers, a school district, BOCES, county vocational education and extension board, and charter school must file a copy of the collaborative agreement with the Department of Health and Regional Council prior to operating the automated external defibrillator.

The new education law requires that school districts, BOCES, county vocational education and extension boards and charter schools comply with the requirements of the Public Health Law’s emergency medical services requirements for public access providers of AED services. The Public Health Law specifies the possession, operation and training requirements for public access defibrillation providers. N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 3000-b(3). Notably, the Public Health Law also provides that a public access defibrillation provider and its agents rendering emergency medical or first aid treatment using an AED is not liable for damages arising from the use of that equipment, or from the use of defectively manufactured equipment, provided that the provider or organization is not negligent, grossly negligent, or guilty of intentional misconduct.

This legislation is effective September 1, 2002; however educational institutions impacted by this legislation should note that another bill has passed the Assembly and Senate and is waiting to go to the Governor for action which would excuse an institution from compliance until December 1, 2002 upon request to the Commissioner of Education, provided the educational institution certifies to the Commissioner of Education that it is unable to fully comply by September 1, 2002.

If you have any questions regarding the issues raised in this alert or would like assistance with education law matters, please contact James A. Spitz, Jr. at (800) 685-1429 or the Harris Beach attorney with whom you usually work.

This legal alert provides brief analysis or comments on matters of education law. This legal alert does not purport to be a substitute for advice of counsel on specific matters.