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"Ambulance Drone" Prototype Unveiled In Holland
schwit1 writes with news about a flying defibrillator designed by a Dutch student. A Dutch-based student on Tuesday unveiled a prototype of an "ambulance drone", a flying defibrillator able to reach heart attack victims within precious life-saving minutes. Developed by Belgian engineering graduate Alec Momont, it can fly at speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour (60 miles per hour). "Around 800,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest in the European Union every year and only 8.0 percent survive, the main reason for this is the relatively long response time of emergency services of around 10 minutes, while brain death and fatalities occur with four to six minutes,"
Anybody can use the AED's in use in the Netherlands; they are fully automatic and tell you exactly what to do.
0x or or snor perron?!
actually, many many people are saved by AEDs every day. I've seen it done. In one case at my daughter's school a kid's grandfather dropped during a drama production. A student ran and got the AED our department had placed in the school, a parent used it on the floor of the auditorium. The man WALKED to the ambulance when it arrived a few minutes later.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
Absolutely. It is called the good samaritan law and protects people from liability if they are attempting to help in good faith. There are some variations between the states with NSW law being the least protective (you are liable if you are the CAUSE of the problem), through to Victoria's blanket protection of no liability even if you were causing the problem if you were acting in good faith.
Germany goes one step further and it is a criminal offence to not to provide first aid. And if you screw it up you are protected.