New Bill Would Require First Responders to Carry EpiPens

Thursday, October 23rd, 2025 -- 8:00 AM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) Andrew Mueller of Wisconsin Rapids was 20 years old when he died last year after going into anaphylactic shock after accidentally eating Peanut Butter M&Ms.

According to Rich Kremer with the Wiconsin Public Radio, his father, Mark Mueller, choked back tears as he told state lawmakers that neither he, nor his wife, Cristin, knew Andrew was allergic to peanuts until that moment.

“We called 911,” Mark Mueller told members of the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care. “Police and EMTs arrived quickly, but none of them carried epinephrine. We had to wait about seven minutes before the paramedics arrived, and by then it was too late.”

After their son’s death, Mark and Cristin said they created the Andrew Mueller Memorial Car Show to raise enough money to buy epinephrine auto injectors, known as EpiPens, for nearly all police officers and sheriff’s deputies in Wood County.

The Muellers shared their story during a public hearing last week on legislation that would require all first responders to carry epinephrine and get the necessary training on how to detect anaphylaxis and administer the drug. The requirement would apply to several groups, including conservation wardens, emergency medical responders, firefighters and police.

“As his mom,” said Cristin Mueller, “I can’t stop thinking about how things could have been different that night if that first responder would have had epinephrine, if they had what they needed. My son might be here, and his story isn’t rare.”

Wood County Sheriff Shawn Becker, who spoke in favor of the bill, recounted the call he got from Mark Mueller immediately after Andrew’s death. “It’s something I’ll never forget,” Becker said. “Because what do you say, when you tell Andrew’s father that, ‘No, we don’t have EpiPens, and I don’t have a good excuse for it.’”

Becker thanked the Muellers for their fundraising and said since being equipped with EpiPens, first responders have already saved a life. Becker said Andrew’s death has traumatized many, including the responding officer who recognized the anaphylactic reaction but wasn’t able to stop it. “But now we have an opportunity to do something about it,” Becker said.

The legislation, introduced in April, is an effort to build on another bipartisan law signed in 2017 by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker that gives liability protections for anyone administering epinephrine on another person while attempting to save their life.

David and Janean Glass told lawmakers about losing their 19-year-old daughter Hannah to complications from a peanut allergy in November, just weeks before Andrew’s death.

David said they knew she had the allergy, but past reactions more than a decade earlier were much milder. He said after Hannah passed out following the reaction, they gave her epinephrine and called 911. He said he carried her outside to wait for the ambulance.

“It was the most helpless feeling that any parent could ever have,” David said. “As I looked into her lifeless face, I thought, ‘I can’t open an airway.’ And, ‘Is this really happening? Is my daughter really dying in my arms?’ All I could do was to tell her that we were there, that we loved her, that it would be OK.”

Hours later, he said doctors discovered Hannah’s right lung had collapsed. They tried reinflating it, he said, “but there was extensive brain damage” and Hannah never came home. “I believe that anaphylaxis is as dangerous as a heart attack, yet far more complicated due to its systemic nature,” David said.

“But the only immediate treatment is so safe and so simple that it’s prescribed to elementary kids and even they can be trained to use it. It’s a shame that, currently, a person suffering from this reaction might be better off calling a 10 year old with an allergy rather than dialing 911, if the first responders that arrive are unable to actually help.”

During the hearing on the EpiPen bill, lawmakers discussed potential costs. As it stands, legislation doesn’t include any funding, only the requirement. A fiscal estimate by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said equipping more than 17,000 first responders in the state with two EpiPens would cost at least $2.6 million per year.

Because they expire after a year, that cost would be ongoing. As for training, DHS said it would need a full-time program coordinator at an annual cost of about $73,000. State Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, said she’d like to see lawmakers “figure out how we can help our local folks manage the cost of this.”

“Because that could get very expensive, particularly because these things do expire annually,” Subeck said. State Rep. Scott Krug, R-Rome, who shared his own experience of being hospitalized due to an unknown nut allergy in 2021, said cost is the biggest impediment for the bill and it would be tougher for larger law enforcement departments.

“But that’s where I think we can lean in on what the families have done to approach pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, private donors, and those are some of the amendments we’re open to, is looking for ways to privately fund this too and gather generousness from our communities to help fund it,” Krug said.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.