N.Y. Doctor/Former EMT Pushes for Nebulizers at Schools

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May 29--An Islip physician's quest to require nebulizers near school sports fields and courts in New York -- making it easier to rescue young athletes from severe asthma attacks -- is suddenly drawing support.

Dr. Harvey Miller, a specialist in allergy, asthma and immunology, has been pitching the idea to politicians and doctors for eight years. Only now, after a recent series of presentations before doctors' organizations, have the stars begun to align in his favor. Support in the medical community has attracted at least one politician to back his proposal.

Assemb. Philip Boyle (R-Bay Shore) earlier this month agreed to write legislation that would require schools with athletic programs to have nebulizers in easy reach at sports venues.

"It's just a matter of time before we have a tragedy," he said, "and I would like to see this bill passed before we have to associate it with some child's name."

To be sure, the measure still faces challenges. Boyle, a former emergency medical technician, said he has no counterpart in the State Senate supporting the measure. He also would need the backing of an Assembly Democrat for the bill to reach the chamber's floor. And even if wider political support emerges, the bill probably won't be debated until sometime next year.

Still, the Suffolk County Medical Society wrote a resolution favoring nebulizers for student athletes, as did the Medical Society of the State of New York, both citing the seriousness of childhood asthma and the need for expeditious care.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition of the lung's airways. Nebulizers transform the potent drug albuterol into an inhalable mist. The drug relaxes the smooth muscles of the airways to restore normal breathing. The device costs about $150.

The push to have nebulizers become as commonplace in New York schools as heart-stimulating automated external defibrillators -- AEDs -- would need funding as well.

"We don't want this to be an unfunded mandate," Boyle said.

When AEDs were required, schools had to pay. Legislators passed a measure in 2007 that allows nebulizers in schools, but only at those where nurses or physicians are present. The devices are kept in the medical professionals' offices.

Miller is pleased his proposal to require nebulizers is finally attracting attention.

"The main obstacle seems to be the potential liability, but I think [legislators] should be able to work that out under the Good Samaritan law," he said, referring to New York's protection for bystanders who lend a hand to the ailing.

Miller said he became inspired to push for a statewide law following the 2003 death of a Midwestern college's football player who had access only to an inhaler, a small canister that dispenses a lower dose of albuterol.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 7.1 million children in the nation are asthmatic and 4,500 people -- regardless of age -- die annually of the condition. Studies have shown the disorder has become more severe and prevalent for a variety of reasons in recent years.

No state currently has a nebulizer law. Critics have wondered whether a layperson would be able to distinguish a severe asthma attack from other respiratory ailments.

"I think there is a potential for treating X when the patient is having Y," said Dr. Vinayak Jha, a pulmonologist and assistant professor of medicine at George Washington University in Washington.

Dr. Rose Marie Young, director of pediatric allergy and immunology at the Nassau University Medical Center, said she supports a nebulizer law.

"It could save a kid's life," she said. "You can teach laypeople how to use a nebulizer."