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RE: Defibrillator



Original poster: "Jonathan Peakall" <jpeakall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

The price of AED's is dropping. However, the comments below are correct in
that asystole (flat line, heart stopped) is more likely to occur than v-fib
from electrical shock. After all, the way an AED works is to STOP a heart
that is in v-fib, and then (hopefully) the heart restarts itself with a
normal beat.

I once was at a scene (I'm a firefighter/EMT) where a cable guy got hit with
12kV from a power line. He was driving a cherry picker extended, and came in
contact with the power line. He was horribly burned, lost a leg and his
genitals were a charred lump. His heart however, was still beating. I heard
that the poor guy lived.

 >I
>read somewhere a while ago when defibs were becoming available to the
>public that defibs are less effective than CPR.

The above is untrue. If a person having a heart attack is hit with an AED
within 10 minutes, their chance of survival is very good. After ten minutes
the chance drops dramatically. AED's are going to be in every public place
very soon. They key to an AED being effective is rapid use.

If you really want one, contact me off list, I have a friend who sells them
for a living and maybe he would give you a deal.


Jonathan
www.madlabs.info



> Original poster: "Peter Terren" <pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Possibly, but an automated defib unit will set you back what most
> people spend on their hobby in a couple of years. It still requires
> someone else to use it.
> I am not sure if we really know how much electrocution is due to
> persisting VF after removal of the HV source rather than asystole,
> major burns or prolonged respiratory arrest due to sustained
> application.  Asystole (electrical standstill) will generally recover
> itself once the current is removed and this will usually occur with
> DC greater than 200mA across the chest whereas VF occurs between
> 100mA to 200mA very roughly and tends not to recover spontaneously
> unless it is clamped down into asystole with a further DC/Bipolar shock.
> I have several functioning non-automated unipolar defibs but don't
> bother keeping one on. Perhaps I should...
> Peter  http://tesladownunder.com
>
>
> >Original poster: "Jim Mora" <jmora@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> >I am wonder if a defib would be a worthwhile safety addition in our
> >trade. Fire extinguishers and at times HV gloves and bang sticks are
> >worth while. I don't recall anyone mentioning a defibrillator on hand.
> >.... Regards,
> >Jim Mora
>
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