Age Limits

State legislation in washington allowed first providers to give auto-inject epi for food anaphylaxis but ONLY to patients under the age of 18. I feel the age restriction is much to limiting, & should be 65. The arguement for age restriction is that someone having a heart attack, that is mistaken for anaphylaxis, & is given epi, this could be lethal. The arguement was also made that EMT's could not make the differential diagnosis. EMT's may have hundred's of hours of training & experience. Parents of the severly allergice are given 5 minutes at best in how,when,where,& why to inject epi. A bystander should be able to give a history for the anaphylactic, EMT's are trained to look at medical alert braclets if they are present. The individual having a heart attack would most likely be male,older,a smoker,sedentary life style/obese,strong family history & perhaps a medical alert braclet if pacemaker present or other cardiac medications. I don't believe the lives of anaphylactics should be sacrificied because of a POTENTIAL for harm to those who have made poor life-style choices. The severly food allergic have a medical condition through no fault of their own, while most people who suffer heart attacks have made some poor life-style choices. If legislation should come up in your home state, please read the fine print, especially regarding age restrictions.