How Can I Build a Portable "Dead-Man's" Switch?

An anonymous reader asks: "I'm a widower caring for my very disabled child. I have family who check in on me often, but not reliably, and not every day. How can I rig up a 'dead-man's switch' that will alert family or emergency services should something happen to me, so that my child can be cared for? Her medical needs are significant enough that being alone for even an hour could be fatal for her. We do occasionally get out of the house, so a GPS type cellphone and a heart-rate monitor watch would seem to be the ticket, but how to link the two and get the desired dialing behaviour?"

Comments

Re:Alive Heart Monitor

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Finally!! The perfect weapon to stop mass zombification getting out of control.

bash.org is way ahead of you

[The MAZZTer]

http://www.bash.org/?14750

Re:Professional

[Anonymous Coward]

Problem is, this requires surgery so it is not a DIY project

Pussy

Re:Professional

[Doctor Memory]

If her heart stops is defibs and logs a report

Wow, that'd be a freaky log file:

[24-SEP-2006 16:44:52] Fibrilation detect
[24-SEP-2006 16:44:56] Fuxx0r3d
[24-SEP-2006 16:44:56] Defibrilation start
[24-SEP-2006 16:44:56] Defibrilation complete
[24-SEP-2006 16:45:01] SYSTEM RESTARTED AT 16:45:01 ON 24-SEP-2006

Re:Professional

[NoseBag]

Problem is, this requires surgery so it is not a DIY project.

Uh-oh.

Now you tell me.

Push a button every 108 minutes

[stevef]

How about setting up a computer that requires you to punch in a code and hit the "execute" button. You could have it set on a timer... say 108 minutes.