What is the number one target of administering first aid? Sustaining life and minimising further injury.
We read an article in the Telegraph newspaper last week which stated that 34% of people are deterred from providing first aid through fear of legal repercussions and being sued.
The article, which centres on a survey produced by the St John’s Ambulance also found that 63% of people would not go to help someone who was ill because they had a lack of confidence in their first aid knowledge.
Both points argue for the case that first aid training should be taught as part of the school’s curriculum across the UK; and defibshop is currently running a survey which has put the very question to adults with young children in schools.
We asked the general public if both children and teachers should be given first aid and defibrillator training at schools and so far, an overwhelming 92% said that they should.
In the instance of children learning from an early age, we would be developing life saving skills for life and subsequently society would benefit from having all children trained in basic life saving skills as the number of trained first responders would grow rapidly and more lives could be saved in the future.
As a direct response to people who fear of being sued when providing life saving CPR or using a defibrillator, you simply cannot be sued for trying to help save someone’s life. For that unfortunate person, if emergency services have not arrived yet, you, the first responder, are the only person who can try and help keep them stable.
No one has ever been sued for attempting to provide first aid to someone.
With a defibrillator, if you think the person has had a cardiac arrest and you've attached a defibrillator – but you’re unsure whether you’re doing more harm than good, the defibrillator unit scans the heart activity from the patient and decides if a shock is required or not. There is no way you can do damage to a person with a defibrillator.
Marketing Manager Emma Lloyd said: “It is imperative that people know that you cannot be sued for helping someone with first aid or attempting to use a defibrillator. You are, in some situations, helping save someone’s life – why would you be sued for that?
‘The greater number of people we train in first aid from an early age the better. It will benefit people now and in the future as there will be more first responders out there who can help people.’
For more information you could take a look at our CPR and AED Training courses available and whilst you could also help us with our survey regarding schools and defibrillators.
We’re hoping to raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest among children and young people whilst highlighting the benefits of having a defibrillator in every school in the UK.
To read the full story in the Telegraph, go here.