The Law

For heath care professionals, it is a requirement of state and federal laws that you be able to perform CPR. This requirement is usually written into particular job descriptions and is also often a requirement of membership into ones professional body.

Normally there is a requirement to renew CPR every two years, but the exact time varies.

The intent of all these regulations is to produce a body of health care professionals who can respond to a victim and provide effective CPR when required.

Duty of Care

With a duty of care towards each victim and the increasing emphasis on performing compressions correctly, more and more legal cases are focusing on how CPR is performed.

In the past people assumed that the Good Samaritan Act would protect people who performed CPR. However with the development of the professional EMS sector with paid full-time heath care professionals this Act no longer applies.

Legal's cases are on the rise and precedents have already been set. A California Grand Jury decision in 2007 specifically ruled that inability to perform CPR correctly by health care professionals contributed directly to the death of a victim. We can expect this trend to continue and for litigation and resultant payout's to continue to increase.