The citizen responder
French law of 3 July 2020, creating the legal status of citizen responder, tackling cardiac arrest and raising awareness of the actions that save lives.
France is one of the few countries to have legislated the citizen responder into existence. The law was passed to confront cardiac arrest, or sudden adult death, which kills between 40,000 and 50,000 people a year in France. One victim in three is under 55, and close to 800 cases occur during sport. Survival is below 10%.
The law creates the status of citizen responder, defined as “any person voluntarily assisting a person in apparent grave and imminent danger”. The acts that characterise a citizen responder are chest compressions, use of a defibrillator, or any other first aid procedure. In acting, the citizen responder contributes to civil protection and is treated as an occasional collaborator of the public service. The status limits their criminal liability and exempts them from any civil liability for harm resulting to the victim from their intervention, other than intentional or gross misconduct.
The same law established a national day dedicated to fighting cardiac arrest and to teaching the actions that save lives.
This legal framework is the single most useful precedent we can offer to any country considering a citizen responder programme: the liability question is the first objection every health system raises, and France has answered it.
After the alert
Nobody is left alone after an intervention.
Being dispatched to a cardiac arrest is demanding, and most responders arrive on a scene where the outcome is not in their hands. Every alert is followed up, and responders can be put in contact with a trained local coordinator for a debrief.
This is not a detail of programme design. It is what keeps a volunteer network alive over years rather than months, and it is one of the first things we help a new territory put in place, alongside the technical integration.
Our community now numbers more than 500,000 responders across France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Becoming a citizen responder
Trained or not, you can save a life.
Becoming a citizen responder takes two things:
– Training. You need to be trained in first aid and in the use of a defibrillator. Any recognised first aid certificate qualifies.
– Registration on the Staying Alive app, so that emergency services can locate you and send you to a cardiac arrest nearby, before they arrive themselves. In those first minutes, your intervention is what changes the outcome.
Registering takes a few clicks. Have a document to hand showing your qualification in your name: you will be asked for it during registration.
If you cannot find your certificate, you can complete your registration later using a self-declaration in the app.
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