[Does public access to defibrillators have a chance in Germany?--On the US model, legal considerations and justification]. / Hat die Public Access Defibrillation in Deutschland eine Chance?--Uber das US-Modell, rechtliche Bedenken und deren Berechtigung.

PURPOSE: The introduction of public access to defibrillation via automated external defibrillators makes it possible to reduce the incidence of sudden cardiac arrest cases. Since they may expect civil and criminal liability after negligence causing damage, many German potential First Responders might hesitate to use an AED. METHODS: After we demonstrate the medical reasons and compare the legal situation of Public Access Defibrillation between the USA and Germany we analyse a possible hesitation of German First Responders. RESULTS: More than 30 states of the USA provide immunity from civil liability after a public access defibrillation followed by damage due to negligence. However, only an AED-trained US-First Responder is granted immunity from civil liability. In Germany there is no immunity from civil and criminal liability in case of public access defibrillation with damage caused by negligence. CONCLUSION: German law will not decrease any possible hesitation by First Responders. For a successful system of public access defibrillation, revision of the legal situation is mandatory.

Sleep related respiratory disorders in end-stage renal disease patients on peritoneal dialysis.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the possible effects of peritoneal dialysis (PD) on sleep-related respiration, which might result from dialysate bulk load in the abdomen and/or alterations in metabolic control of respiration during sleep. DESIGN: Subjective and objective measures of sleep were prospectively compared on randomly assigned nights with PD fluid (2.0 L) and without PD fluid in the peritoneal cavity in 11 end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on PD. SETTING: Tertiary-referral university hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifteen consecutive patients on peritoneal dialysis who complained of chronic sleep disturbance and requested sedative were selected. Four patients declined polysomnographic studies. Consequently, 11 ESRD patients (8 males and 3 females) with a mean age of 63 +/- 4 (SEM) years were studied. RESULTS: Eight of the 11 patients reported multiple types of sleep difficulties. Polysomnographic recordings revealed significant primarily obstructive sleep apnea in 6 of 11 patients on at least 1 of 2 nights. Arterial blood pH, paO2, and paCO2 did not differ between nights with and without PD fluid in the peritoneal cavity in the group as a whole. In the 6 patients with sleep apnea, PaO2 was significantly lower (p less than 0.05) during the night with (PaO2 = 78 +/- 7 mmHg) than during the night without PD fluid (PaO2 = 92 +/- 4 mmHg). In the apneic patients, the amount of dialysate drained in the morning was negatively correlated with the minimum arterial oxygen saturation during the night (r = -0.94; p less than 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates a significant relationship between PD patients with chronic sleep disturbance and sleep apnea syndrome. These data suggest that apneic patients may be susceptible to complications of dialysate bulk effect on oxygen desaturation.