Workplaces yet to implement AED programs may point to liability risks associated with a potential failed rescue. However, a case now in the California Supreme Court points to what can happen if an organization doesn’t have AEDs.
Verdugo v. Target asks: “In what circumstances, if ever, does the common law duty of a commercial property owner to provide emergency first aid to invitees require the availability of an AED for cases of sudden cardiac arrest?” Survivors of a woman who died of sudden cardiac arrest while shopping in Target’s Pico Rivera store near Los Angeles issued the legal challenge, with a court decision expected in 2014.