Kentucky Introduces Bill for Emergency Response Protocol

State lawmakers in Kentucky have introduced a bill that would create a new notification protocol for emergency response companies after a woman died even after alerting her company of the crisis.

In an article on the AMnews.com website, Herb Brock says Christine Talley, 69, died last Memorial Day of a heart attack even though she had pressed the device that automatically alerts her emergency response company’s call center of a medical crisis. She was unable to respond when the center called her; the center then called the phone numbers of family members.

The new law would see that call centers would have to call 911 after getting no response from a subscriber. Currently, subscribers can opt out of this provision, Brock says.

“The main thrust of the bill is make sure that emergency response systems immediately call 911 if the subscriber wearing the device is unable to respond to the call center,” Jim Talley, Christine Talley’s son, told Brock. “Subscribers or their families can opt out, but I don’t know why they would.”

The bill says that if a company fails to comply with the proposed protocol, it can face civil penalties from $1,000 to $10,000 on the first offense and from $10,000 to $50,000 on the second offense. After the third incident of non-compliance, the company would be fined from $50,000 to $100,000 and barred from operating in Kentucky for 10 years.

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