Good Samaritan Bill Signed Into Law

Gov. Chris Christie signed a Good Samaritan Bill into law Thursday morning, over two months after the bill was passed by the State Senate by a vote of 37-1 and .

The Good Samaritan Law absolves those trying to help save a life of  responsibility if they cause injury while attempting to give aid. Until now, this protection did not extend to a person owning or using an automatic external defibrillator (AED) during a cardiac arrest.

An AED is a portable device that is used to restore heart rhythms to patients in cardiac arrest. It automatically analyzes the heart rhythm of the patient and advises the user whether or not a defibrillator is needed to return the patient to a normal heart beat.

New Jersey is now the 44th state to pass a Good Samaritan law.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, if a heart in sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is defibrillated within the first minute, there is a 90 percent chance that the patient will survive. Survival rates decrease 10 percent for every minute a person in SCA waits to be defibrillated.