Public Defibrillators

You've seen it in the movies. A patient is having a cardiac arrest, and a doctor shouts "clear" and shocks the heart back into rhythm. Those machines are called defibrillators. Some are so simple nowadays that six states allow non-medical people to use them. Doctors say it's a life-saving idea.

Reverend Raleigh Carroll is alive today because of emergency medical specialists and a defibrillator. One day on the golf course, he collapsed in cardiac arrest. "They used their defibrillator on me," says Rev. Carroll. With a jolt, the machine started Carroll's heart.

Dr. Cary McDonald keeps a defibrillator handy in his emergency clinic, but it must be used within minutes of an attack. That's why he believes all police cars and fire trucks should have them. Many airlines are already putting them on planes, and California, Florida, Maine, Maryland, North Dakota and Texas allow non-medical people to use them.

"I believe it is even more valuable than CPR," says Dr. McDonald, an emergency medicine specialist in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Some defibrillators are highly-automated. Anyone can learn to attach these pads to a victim. Then the machine decides if a jolt is needed. "I think the benefits of using the machine are high, and the risks are low," says Dr. McDonald.

Rev. Carroll's spreading the word. He shared his story at an awards ceremony honoring the rescue crew and the device that saved his life. "If people could afford it, I would recommend they have one in every home," he says.

Dr. McDonald has seen the survival rate of cardiac patients double in areas where fire crews have defibrillators. Right now, many states don't allow non-medical personnel to handle defibrillators. However, as technology has changed, many people in the medical community think it's time those laws be rewritten. So these life-saving devices are more common, and the people who use them are protected by good Samaritan laws. Defibrillators cost about $3,000.

Source: Ivanhoe @1999