Will having a defibrillator at home save your life?
When a person's heart stops, it must be restarted within very few minutes to prevent brain damage. So having a personal defibrillator at home seems like a good idea- shock your heart back into rhythm if it stops! So why doesn't it work? Read this story to find out. Share any opinions or experiences you may have had, and then give us some information on what WILL save a life. Include your reference link, and try to emphasize something nobody above you has emphasized.
22 comments:
I find it surprising that home defibrillators don't always help people with heart problems -- whether it be because the heart condition is one that cannot be improved by delivering a shock to the heart or because there is no one around to administer the shock.
My dad's heart stopped while he was in the shower, not too long ago -- last year February. My mom is a registered nurse, and she knew what to do. Upon hearing a thud in the shower, she quickly rushed to the bathroom, to find my dad lying down on the bathtub, with water still running. She quickly shut off the water, checked for breathing, and called 911. She needed to admister CPR, but because his head hit the faucet when he fell, his neck was crooked. She tried to straighten out his body so she could perform CPR, but because his body was "dead-weight" as she called it (and also because she's a tiny, tiny woman) she could not pull his body down to unblock the airway (to give him mouth-to-mouth). So she just began chest compressions. She called out for help, and our neighbors came upstairs, but they refused to move him (I think they were scared they'd make the situation worse), and instead told my mom just to wait for the ambulence. The paramedics came soon; my mom says it could not have been more than 5 minutes, and they shocked him multiple times and got his heart beating, upon which he was rushed to the hospital. He's still alive today, and the EMT says it was because my mom did her best, that even though she couldn't administer breaths to his lungs, the chest compressions helped. But I'm pretty sure the EMT's quick response was a definite reason he's still breathing today. Yay.
Sorry for the depressing story. Anyway, I've read on the internet time and time again that aspirin could prevent heart attacks. I didn't know the reason why before, but upon reading this article: http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/heart-attack-how-aspirin-helps-165083.html , I've found out why it's true. Aspirin is known to slow down the platelets in your bloodstream that helps with blood clotting. However, in the case of a heart attack (let's say due to the rupture of a plaque in the coronary artery), you don't want the blood to clot in your artery, because that would restrict all blood flow, preventing oxygen from beying delivered to that part of the heart. So it's important that when you begin to feel the symptoms of a heart attack, first call 911, then chew one 325mg aspirin (non-coated) as soon as possible, as it takes 15 minutes before every platelet in your body is slowed down. It's important for you to chew so you break down the aspirin into particles, speeding up digestion, and chewing signals your body to begin digestion. Not only is aspirin useful for headaches and other minor pains, it also helps in preventing (or slowing down) heart attacks.
I was reading a comment someone made on this article, and they mentioned how the government should try to lower the cost of the home defibrillators to make it more accessible to the masses. I agree with this thought because though they don't necessarily help every case, I feel it would be of good addition in American homes.
From what I can remember, I don't believe I've ever had an incidence where someone in my immediate family has suffered from cardiac arrest or heart attack. However, I was trying to look for other methods to deal with a heart attack and the method of compressing the chest has favor over CPR now among medical experts.
http://www.azdhs.gov/news/2008-all/NewTechnique011008.htm
But the article that really caught my attention was that if hospitals are bit closer and help is a little bit more accesible when you are suffering an attack, more and more hospitals now seem to use induced hypothermia to slow down brain damages that can be suffered during cardiac arrests. It is a very interesting idea and it seems to be working in many cases across America; however, I still am personally a little skeptical about this method. Despite my skepticism, it seems to be a valid method in that by lowering the temperature, it slows down the pace of the bloodflow in the body. This is a big help to preventing brain damage because my slowing down the flow of blood that is not oxygen-rich to the brain, it will prevent damage from occuring to the brain. Further detail on this method can be found at the following site, which contains an article on anecdotes and information on induced hypothermia:
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/NEWS32/802170308
The most interesting piece of information I learned from this article was that 6 minutes is the crucial window for saving a cardiac arrest patient’s life. This statistic reinforces how dependent our entire body is on our heart.
Though I have never had the opportunity to administer CPR or use an automated external defibrillator (AED) I do agree that it would only be helpful to have one at home if heart attacks run in a person’s family, if a heart attack has occurred before, AND if at least one family member is trained in how to operate one. If I were presented with the option of using an automated external defibrillator or calling 911, I would call 911 in fear of making the situation worse. But I do believe if one family member is informed about how to use it and feels comfortable, than having a defibrillator at home could save lives. I see it as a case of “better safe than sorry.”
When searching for information that can prevent heart attacks and save lives I found the “ABC’s of Preventing Heart Disease, Stroke, and Heart Attack” presented by The American Heart Association.
A stands for avoid tobacco
B stands for become more active and
C stands for choose good nutrition.
Though we’ve heard these solutions so many times i wanted to emphasize why they are so important.
First of all, Cigarette smokers are two-to-three times more likely to die from coronary heart disease than nonsmokers. Though quitting smoking may be difficult, it is even harder to function once your heart is weakened and damaged.
Second under the category of becoming more active stats have revealed that by walking, running, swimming or exercising for at least 30 minutes a day and at least 5 days a week, blood pressure and cholesterol often lower.
Also, the food we eat determines our cholesterol, blood pressure, likelihood to get diabetes and our weight. The foods recommended to eat are lots of veggies, fruits, fish, whole grain foods and low-fat dairy products. All the foods our mom has begged us to eat right?
Last of all, the American Heart Association recommends moderate drinking. It was interesting to learn that drinking lots of alcohol can produce irregular heart beats and raise blood pressure.
http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3035374
Six hundred people die from cardiac arrest per day and yet, personally, I’ve never faced such a perilous incident in my life – however, the fear of it possibly happening to one of my family members does haunt me in the back of my mind. This article provides insight as to alternatives to handling someone facing sudden cardiac arrest or undergoing arrhythmia (learned from lecture as irregular breathing) in the household as one waits for the ambulance to arrive: using an automated external defibrillator, or AED.
How it works is you use two pads that deliver electric shocks to the victim’s chest, much like the stereotypical scenes you see in television shows and movies related to emergency rooms with the doctor’s yelling “clear!” and delivering a jolt to the patient in hopes of stabilizing the heartbeat. With an AED, members at home can deliver the shock to someone who has suddenly collapsed, thus increasing the chances of survival for the victim and maybe even saving an emergency visit to the hospital. However, it does seem as if some sort of training is necessary.
Recent news has it that although it does manage to save lives, it’s a pricey item and isn’t known to significantly increase chances of survival, mainly because those that died had died from a type of cardiac arrest different from one that needs to be treated by a defibrillator. But of course it is nice to say “better safe than sorry”, so having any item around the house that contributes to saving a life is one reason to keep one around. It’s a matter of whether you really want to resort to such a procedure in times of need. When picturing a scenario involving someone who has suddenly gone under cardiac arrest, why use crucial minutes dragging the AED out, reading the manual and understanding the steps, and then administering it when you can be doing far more life-changing tactics such as CPR? But if you fear you don’t know how to administer CPR and seemingly can’t think of anything progressive, it wouldn’t hurt to try the defibrillator.
The article reminded me of one of the earlier ones posted on the website about the alternative to CPR, (http://handsonlycpr.eisenberginc.com/), mainly pushing the chest fast and hard. Not only does this option do more in the mere six minutes time-frame one has to change the situation from mildly severe to critical, but it’s free as well. It’s also a tactic much easier to set up and employ than a defibrillator, so anyone can take a minute to make a difference in this case. Young children can even do something in this kind of situation, but imagining a child understanding the procedure to using a defibrillator is a bit far-fetched.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46849
My dad had a mild heart attack this past year while driving, he's ok now, but truthfully, I don't think anybody in my family is CPR certified nor would they be able to use a defibrillator. If a defibrillator were to be placed in your home, it should be placed for people who are at high risk for a heart attack not for everyone. Also, there needs to be in depth instructions and precautions with it, in order to make sure that it works properly.
I'm not surprised that having a heart defibrillator in your home would not increase the chances of increasing the survival rate of a heart attack. One fact that American's take for granted is how we treat our bodies, and the most common fact that doctor's advise their patients is to maintain a healthy diet and to exercise in order to prevent healthy problems, particularly heart attacks. Some main causes of heart attacks are tobacco smoke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and overweight, and diabetes. Here is a website that shows the risks and factors that contribute to heart attack and what is preventable and what isn't. http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=500
As the article says, we should focus on preventing heart attacks, not practice how to stop them when they happen.
Before I read this article, I figured the reason home defibrillators didn’t always work was due to it not being particularly affective for all cardiac arrest cases. On the other hand, I never even thought of the fact that the person attempting to use the AED on a person experiencing a heart attack may not know how to use it properly. Which made me think: if I was in such a situation – which, fortunately, I haven’t been – then I think I would still use the defibrillator improperly, even if I knew how. I think I would be experiencing so much fear that I wouldn’t even be able to react properly. I’ve never actually used, seen or heard, of this system, so I found this website that gives a description of how to do it. Watching the video made me certain that I definitely would not be able to use it properly in an emergency. Though I’d hope whoever has one at home would already have practiced knowing how to use the AED, I still think it could be fairly complicated when in a dire situation. I would already be second guessing myself, but to have to remove two pads, their seals, and to place them on the proper areas on the body within a few minutes, would really make the situation even more difficult.
Here’s the link to the demonstration: http://www.heartstarthome.com/animated_demo/demo.asp
Of course the obvious preventive measures for cardiac arrest would be eating healthy and exercising as well as making sure to regularly get one’s heart checked for arrhythmia. St. Jude’s Medical provides a list of do’s and don’ts for preventing cardiac arrest. A few do’s are to exercise daily and drink 8-10 glasses of water. And a couple of don’ts are excessive drinking and smoking. One I found interesting was to not drink too much sugary drinks. This website actually said that not all cases of cardiac arrest are treatable. (http://www.sjm.com/conditions/condition.aspx?name=Sudden+Cardiac+Arrest§ion=Prevention)
I figured that I would try to find another method. I found this website that said that if someone has high blood pressure or cholesterol, that he/she could take medicine or supplements like soluble fiber and vitamin B3 to lower their levels. http://altmedicine.about.com/od/highcholesterol/a/highcholesterol.htm
And you could also make sure you’re family has a emergency action plan ready if you know someone in your family is at risk. Here is a link on how to construct your own plan. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/actintime/saha/plan.htm
I have been a pool lifeguard for two summers and have been trained in rescue breathing and CPR along with the use of the AED. Most AED devices are extremely easy to use and come with clear pictoral instructions which are easy to follow. I have always been taught that if there is a pulse, you need to do rescue breathing and if there is no pulse you start CPR. In the case of the AED, if research shows that it is not totally effective in saving people who have heart attacks, and that many people die because the ambulance is not able to get to the scene in time, I think it is more important for people to spend their money learning CPR and Rescue Breathing. This would allow whoever may be at home to know how to keep oxygen flowing through the person's body until the ambulance arrives. The paramedics are also equiped with defribulators and would be more well trained to handle the situation.
Here is some information about how to do CPR and rescue breathing.
http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/info/safety/cpr/adult-cpr.htm
It's comforting to know that home defibrillators can sometimes save one's life, but the possibility that they don't always help is a concern.
In the 8th grade, one of my close friends lost her father due to a cardiac-arrest. His heart attack unexpectedly occurred in the middle of the night when his family was asleep. Unfortunately, no one in my friend's family could do anything to help their father, but to call 911. The ambulance came a little too late, past the six minute time limit necessary to help a cardiac-arrest patient, and my friend's father passed away before the paramedics arrived.
If my friend's family owned a home defibrillator their father could still be alive.
The circumstances surrounding his unexpected passing, however, were connected to his weight problem. I was able to find some insightful information about a healthy diet and lifestyle that would lead to "long-term benefits" on the American Heart Association website. In this article they state that using up as many calories as you take in, eating a variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups, eating less of the nutrient-poor foods, not smoking tobacco and avoiding tobacco smoke, can help one maintain a better and healthy heart lifestyle and can can save a life.
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=851
I think that AED would be useful for those who do have a current heart problem and who are at risk of having a heart problem where an AED would be needed. I agree with the section in the article where it discusses that if an AED was produced for every household that the money spent on that should be spent on resources to help create a healthier community where there would not be a need for one because there would be no heart problems. But I do think that is an a great medical advancement to be able to help save a family member or friend's life in your own home.But I think what would be even more affective if there were a more pressures to influence individuals eat healthier and exercise and live a healthier life styler because in the long run that would help create a longer life with out the need of medicine to fix the unhealthy habits. Also, the defibrillator's don't always help heart problems they just for sudden attacks. So, in my opinion, the cost would be more beneficial to be spent on providing a healthier lifestyle then on something as a fall back for the unhealthy practices.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Cholesterol/Story?id=2273862&page=1
As soon as I read the title for the article, I knew the answer to the question. Even though a defibrillator can save your life, I’ve learned throughout my life that preventing something is the best “cure” for it. Though I haven’t had any heart problems, nor have I experienced anything with a family member or friend that had cardiac arrest or a heart attack, I have gotten sick and injured many times. Each time that it happened, a doctor (or someone with medical knowledge) has told me that I should take care of myself before it happens because there isn’t much you can do for yourself once an illness or injury has occurred.
However, as I read the article, I noticed one thing that stood out to me. The article stated that “patients who had family members trained in CPR but no AED at home had roughly the same survival rate as those who had the device.” Learning proper CPR methods would be much easier, cheaper, and close to as effective as having a defibrillator at home. Then I started to search for an article that backed up this theory and I found this one.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/102255.php
Also, I found an article about how to administer CPR.
http://library.thinkquest.org/10624/cpr.html
I agree with what many people have already said--that it is really surprising that the study states that there isn't much of a difference in the survival rate between homes of patients with cardiac problems with AEDs and without. I recently completed my CPR/AED certification and know how important it is to get help, whether by CPR or using the AED if available, to a patient to keep them alive until the EMT arrive. Though the article says that the survival rate was not that different, I still believe that the added help of the AED is what can save a person's life, especially when the person fails to respond to CPR.
At the same time, however, I also believe that for $1300, an AED is a really expensive device to have at home, especially for low income families, when it may not make much of an impact in comparison to CPR or if no one is present to use the AED--much less know how to use it. As the article says, a healthy diet and exercise is key to preventing cardiac problems. This is the only thing that families--regardless of economic situation--can do to prevent such problems, except in the case of family history in which a healthy diet and exercise can only lessen the chances of it occuring. There are other things one can do to prevent cardiac problems, and thereby the problem of needing to pay for an at home AED, the first being to quit smoking, and secondly to lead a stress-free life, as detailed in this healthcare website for senior citizens. Yes, the information is directed towards the elderly, but the advice it offers for preventing cardiac problems is applicable to any age group.
I know that my family has a history of both high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Now knowing how much these two factors contribute to cardiac problems, I've started eating healthy and exercising regularly. It's not that difficult to avoid these health problems, and when you think of the outcome of all your effort, i.e. not having a heart attack, you know it'll be worth giving up that extra bowl of ice cream.
For the rest of the ways to prevent cardiac problems, see http://www.healthcareforseniorshub.com/cardiac-disease/ways-prevent/
External home defibrillators seem to be the future in helping the growing number of sudden cardiac arrests in the United States. With the aging population as well as ballooning incidence of obesity in our country this avenue of prevention should not be thrown out with the bath water. Of course, current articles are not supportive, as noted, http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=88318
On the other hand, if the cost of such a device was reasonable with adequate training, lives should be saved.
I found it surprising that ambulance have to get to victims in 6 mins. That window period is really short expectally if it is true that most of the time people who go into cardiac arrest are alone. There is a story that i know that is sort of related to cardiac arrest but it is not a personal one. It was a story replayed on the discovery health channel. The story was about a little girl age 4 who in the middle of the night opened the door and went outside into below freezing temperature. She was found 2 hours later. Her extermites had really bad frostbite. She was not breathing and didn't have a heartbeat. when the EMT came, they immediately tried to raise her temperature. This process continued until they arrived at the hospital as her temperature began to rise back to normal a heartbeat appeared. The doctors at the hospital said that what saved her life was actually the freezing temperature the dramatic change in body temperature almost like wrapped her in a cacoon. interesting story but maybe a little off topic.
the article talks about prevention as the best solution against a cardiac arrest but I don't believe this is the approach that doctors should rely on. Doctors should be able to find a way to help even the people that once had a cardiac arrest.
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec24/ch299/ch299c.html
this article on the preparation of a cardiac arrest talks about the importance of keeping an open airway. the automated external defibrillator is also important in the first aid kit for cardiac arrest. I think that the government should try to lower the prices on defibrillators instead of telling us that it is not worth the price in comparing if it can save lives. If it can save one life it is worth having. The healthcare almost makes a human life sound as if it was like a purse that was not worth the purchase.
I knew of someone who died from a cardiac arrest during his sleep. It was one of those rare cardiac arrests because the person that passed away was only in his early 20s. In this case, where a person dies in his sleep from heart failure, it seems that home defibrillators are almost unnecessary.
Overall, I think that home defibrillators are good to have around, especially if there is someone in the household who is trained to use one. As I was reading several articles, it kept mentioning that they do not always work for every heart complications, but it never mentioned that they were harmful to use in cardiac arrests. If they don't always work, but they are not too harmful, then I would think that it is more reasonable to have one around.
In an article from WebMD, it states that there are no negative outcomes to having a home defibrillator, but some doctors suggest that people should not have it around. However, I believe that if there are no negative outcomes, then people with frequent heart problems should keep one around just in case of an emergency. Ambulances are not always fast enough as they should be sometimes, so rather than relying on an ambulance's arrival, I think that a home defibrillator will be of more help than not.
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20080402/home-defibrillator-cpr-equally-effective
If I didn't know better, I would've thought AEDs were from Shamans with magical healing properties. They are truly amazing, under circumstances that warrant them.
One of my most interesting memories with the AED included it, but had more complications than that. There was an elderly gentleman who had diabetes for a long time. He was frail, with pale skin, but a genuine smile - his nickname was Bentley. Anyway, on a rainy evening when I used to work EMS, I got a call for Bentley: "Unconscious male with history of diabetes". We run into his house five minutes later, and his daughter is sitting him up on bed. I go to him, "Mr. Bentley? What's wrong? Do you know where you are?" His eyes roll to the back of his head with a murmuring. I crack open my medic bag, and swath the inside of his lip with glucose. Wait, I can't, he just fell back. He's completely unconscious. Protocol dictated that I don't give him glucose. My partner and I throw him into a stair chair and carry him down from the 2nd floor. We throw a blanket over his head as we carry him from the home into the ambulance and rush to the hospital. There isn't much I can do. His breathing is adequate enough, his blood pressure is dropping but acceptable, and his pulse is rising. He's going into shock. The hospital is 10 minutes away. The paramedics intercept us. They climb into the back of the ambulance, rain rolling off them, and I give them a quick run down of what happened. Its all text-book. The paramedic throws on a 6-lead EKG on the patient. The paramedic hands me a needle and catheter attached to Dextrose (pure sugar, ). As I penetrate and find the vein, the patient goes into cardiac arrest. He needs shocks now, but I'm in the middle of administering dextrose. The pressure is on me to finish quick. Crap! I miss the vein. I pull my catheter out and my partner gives three solid shocks from the AED. The other paramedic finds a vein on the other side and administers cardiac drugs. Just as he finishes, I find my vein and immediately start giving glucose. After I administer the glucose, we give him a couple more shocks from the AED. There is a small pulse! We start emergency breathing and run to the hospital. Mr. Bentley lives another day. :)
There is a concept in EMS called the 'Chain of Survival' for first-responders (particularly bystanders). Doctrine goes that if the person is an adult and unconscious, attempt to give a few breaths and a minute of CPR if needed before calling EMS. However, when a child is unconscious, skip CPR and rescuing breathing until you call EMS. Kids compensate pretty well, but when they crash, they crash hard, so its imperative for EMS to get there as quickly as possible.
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3012016
Having AEDs at private homes are not very realistic and cost effective. It is no surprise to me they did not work because no one is around or the AED doesn't work on that specific heart condition. For those people who do have round the clock medical assistants to administer the AED, other choices are available.
For people at risk for having a heart attack or irregular heart beats another more reliable option is available. Permanent small pacemakers, weighting about 30 grams, can be implanted into the chest. These have small batteries that last 7-10 years and would need to be replaced. What a pacemaker does is monitor the electrical impulses of the heart and if the heart stops beating, beats too quickly, or does anything irregular, the pacemaker corrects the irregularity by giving the heart a shock or slowing the heart's electrical signal down. The information about pacemakers is from: http://www.medicinenet.com/pacemaker/article.htm
I think having a defibrillator at home is a good idea however only when necessary. This is because not everyone at needs one at home. I feel it is necessary to have one at home for someone who is at high risk. This will be a better precaution to the person and enhances the chance to save their life since there is such a small window in which a person can be saved when suffering from a heart attack. However, it should also not be something to rely on. The importance of diet and exercise does need to be emphasized.
The thing with the at home defibrillator is that it is only good for cardiac arrest. It is also important for someone to know how to use because if used improperly it can cause sever damage. I think it is more important to also have them in public places where there are more people around and a greater chance like a cardiac arrest to happen. In there end there are pros but also a lot of cons. Another one would be price since these machines are very expensive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6496-2004Sep8.html
I have never heard about what a defibrillator was or what it did until I read this article. Just about every person I’ve ever met or talked to knows someone who died of cardiac arrest or knows someone who has had a heart attack. Many schools have under gone CPR instruction in physical education classes, but since budgets are continually being cut, those programs have been cut as well. As a result, many people are living with no knowledge on how to (correctly) perform CPR.
My grandmother had heart surgery last year after suffering a heart attack. If she had a defibrillator, she might have had less damage done to her heart and may have been able to survive longer than she did. Reading this article made me wish I had known about the defibrillator sooner. I think it is helpful to have around a house especially since 3 out of 4 people who go into cardiac arrest are in their homes.
I found this interesting article that follows a study on CPR vs. defibrillators. They study found that there was no significant difference in the survival rate or patients who had one or the other, but studies show that bystanders with little to no training in CPR can effectively use automated external defibrillators (AEDs) without having to go through the classes and training of CPR.
http://www.nih.gov/news/health/apr2008/nhlbi-01.htm
I think the idea of having a defibrillator at one’s home is helpful when the household knows how to operate the defibrillator. I belive that having a defibrillator at home can have its pros and cons. The advantage of having a defibrillator at home gives a quicker service rather than calling 911. However having a defibrillator may also result in a delay for calling for help. As I researched I discovered that providing oxygen through CPR to the person getting a heart attack is the first crucial step during a heart attack, and having a defibrillator at home may cause people to not realize this, and cause them to quickly use the defibrillator first.
It should be necessary for every one who owns a defibrillator, to have knowledge on how to operate it. People who have family members should who are heart patients should take the extra mile to learn how to do a CPR. As far as the price go there are ways to get around it by purchasing the product at a cheaper price such as buying it off ebay, or other places where they might cell used products. Overall having a defibrillator at home is a good idea as long as the user knows how to use it properly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/03/business/03jolt.html
After reading this article, I can see why an at home defibrillator can be difficult to use because when someone close to you is having a heart attack you are in a state of panic and someone's life is in your hands and that can affect the way you are thinking and using the machine. Though it can be hard to use during a situation such as a heart attack, I believe that if used correctly it can save one's life. Also, I also agree that when no one is with the person that is experiencing a heart attack, the at home defibrillator would be useless the patient would administer the machine, himself.
Also, after reading this article it really upsets me that people would ask such a question if whether the defibrillator is worth the money or it doesn't really save that many lives because most these people making these opinions have not experienced it in real life! I take this issue really personally because my dad had a defibrillator implanted in his upper left portion of his body just below his collar bone a couple of months ago after he experienced a major heart attack. The defibrillator shocked him a couple of weeks ago after it noticed an irregular heart beat. Without the defibrillator my dad could have again experienced another major heart attack and it could have caused his life to end. I believe that even though a defibrillator is extremely expensive, my family would do anything to save my dad’s life because that’s my dad and that’s my mom’s husband. Though everyone says that dealing with the death of a love one happens to everyone and that you just have to deal with it, but this is my dad were talking about and I would do anything to have him in my life for as long as possible. So, I believe that an implanted defibrillator (ICD) is a machine and procedure that I believe will definitely save lives.
More information about implanted defibrillator is: http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/implantable-defibrillator-icd.html
This website offers substantial information about implanted defibrillators, how they work, and potential risks.
Also this article states that the crucial window for saving a cardiac arrest patient is six minutes, which shocks me because when my dad had his heart attack there was no one else present at our house and he managed to dial 911 and open or front door and lay himself down, he ended up passing out but the paramedics performed CPR on him for approximately more than an hour. After an hour or so, he was revived. So, you can see why I don’t buy this idea of six minutes for saving a cardiac arrest patient.
After reading this paragraph: "The best way to survive a cardiac arrest is not to have it in the first place," says Arthur Kellermann of the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta. "This is accomplished through diet, exercise, non-smoking and access to good medical care for conditions like high blood pressure prior to a heart attack," I believe that Kellermann did not carefully state his opinion because my dad had heart surgery about 13 years ago because most of his family members had heart problems and he never smoked and he always dieted and exercised and he had a clean slate for 13 until last November he had a heart attack. Kellerman states that the best way to survive a cardiac arrest is not to have it in the first place, my response is, “ARE YOU SERIOUS?” My dad took all the precautions possible and had the best doctors and medication and did all the things he could do to be healthy and he still experienced a heart attack! My dad can not control a heart attack, he cannot just tell his body to not have a heart attack, things happen that is beyond human control. So, Kellermann saying that just don’t have a heart attack in the first place is complete nonsense.
Overall, I can see why an at home AED would be hard to operate due to if no one was present with the patient during the heart attack. But I strongly believe that an implanted defibrillator (ICD) is worth all the money.
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