Goal Of New Assembly Bill is to 'Save Lives'

For decades, Assemblyman Dr. Eric Muñoz of Summit worked to save lives as a trauma surgeon at University Hospital in Newark. He worked with a sense of urgency to make sure that patients received treatment as quickly as possibly. Now, four years after his untimely death, his wife Nancy — who took over his Assembly seat, is continuing his mission in the form of a new legislative measure.

Legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Muñoz directing hospitals to establish protocols to request the immediate dispatch and timely transport of critically ill patients between health care facilities by specialty care transportation units, was approved on April 29 by the General Assembly recently.

SCTUs transport critically ill and compromised patients between health care facilities — such as hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers — when patient needs exceed a level of care currently available to them.

Muñoz said the purpose of her legislation is to save lives. It arose from a situation in which her husband, Eric, needed an immediate transfer to University Hospital in March of 2009 for emergency bypass surgery.

"An ambulance was not sent in a timely manner to make the transfer. He passed away from complications from a dissecting aortic aneurysm, in which blood is pumped into the sac around the heart," Muñoz, R-Union, Morris and Somerset, told Patch. Her husband — a former Summit Councilman — was 61 yeard old.

According to a press release from Assemblywoman Muñoz's office, specialty care transportation units, which are licensed by the Department of Health, are equipped with advanced life support equipment, including medications, cardiac monitoring devices and ventilators. These units are staffed with highly skilled health care professionals.

“Critically ill patients require specialized medical intervention or monitoring that is beyond the capabilities of a basic life support ambulance and its crew,” Muñoz explained. “Time wasted in dispatch and transport can literally mean the difference between life and death. Every minute is crucial. Such patients need to be transferred to a specialty care facility that is better equipped to handle the patients’ condition in as timely and efficient a manner as possible.”

The bill, which will now head to Gov. Chris Christie for his consideration, will: request immediate dispatch and timely patient pick-up from the sending hospital, and transport to the receiving hospital by an SCTU used for patient inter-facility transfers.

In addition, the legislation will establish contingency SCTU transport protocols in the event that a hospital’s SCTU is not immediately available for dispatch. A hospital that fails to comply will be penalized, according to the bill.

In the wake of her husband's death, Munoz spoke to doctors who worked alongside the late trauma surgeon. They urged her honor him through this type of legislation.

“The [University Hospital] doctors said, ‘If you want to do one thing to honor Eric’s memory, you do this bill,’” Munoz said. “I just want to make sure, going forward, that we save lives, because that’s what my husband did for a living: save lives.”