Kudos to Pennsylvania General Assembly

It is always heart warming to see government act to serve and protect. Today the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed House Bill 1610 which defines warning signs for sudden cardiac death and details the actions required of coaches and trainers to remove and re-instate players from participation. There is a huge debate across the country on screening procedures, the number of students at risk, the cost and effectiveness of screening. No one disagrees that there is a problem. It is refreshing to see something done about it to positively protect student athletes from the risk of cardiac death.

In Texas legislation was passed last year to protect students from the risk of concussions. The medical advisory board of the UIL admits that screening through history and physicals by physicians, nurse practitioners, and chiropractors is not an optimal solution. The concussion screening protocol was mandated by the State Legislature. Will it take a state law to enforce similar guidelines for cardiac screening?

The Pennsylvania law is simple. If a student exhibits "fainting, difficulty breathing, chest pains, dizziness and

abnormal racing heart rate" then they are prohibited from returning to participation until cleared by a medical professional. This law is less complex than the concussion law passed last year in Texas. In my opinion it should be passed in all fifty states. If we can't get screening a suggested part of pre-participation physicals the least we can do is define a protocol on what to do before the use of an AED is required.