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How a Hardware Designer Was Saved By His Own Creation
szczys writes Would you do a better job designing hardware if your life depended on it? Chris Nefcy is in that exact position. Years ago he developed an Automatic External Defibrilator for First Medic. The device allows non-doctors to restart a human heart in the field. When Chris had a heart attack his ticker was restarted with shocks from his own hardware. His story isn't just heartwarming, he also covers the path that led him into developing the AED and the bumpy road encountered getting the hardware to market.
For the 1000000000th time, defibrillators don't start your heart, they stop it. That's how they all work. Look it up.
Well since it's nerds: it's like pressing the reset button (not the power on button).
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
The AED can't restart the heart from true "flat line" (asystole). You have to force the heart into some kind of activity using manual CPR, and ideally a suitable drug, to give the AED something to bite on.
However, tachycardia can appear pulseless even though the heart is still beating (dysrhythmically), and the AED alone can shock-stop that dysrythmia and allow the heart to restore its own timing. That's where the advice to use the AED "even if their heart has stopped" comes from; their heart hasn't actually stopped.
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
In Italy it is now obligatory for sports clubs to have an AED and certified people who can use it. I took a day-long CPR/AED class just two weeks ago, together with other members of our club. The device is actually really easy to use - press a button, listen to the directions, place the pads and hope for the best. But when the machine can't produce a shock (for the reasons outlined by QQBoss above) one still needs to perform CPR, and that's what the biggest part of the course was about.
I second QQBoss and encourage everyone to take a First Aid/CPR/AED class. You can't do anything wrong - once a person is unconscious and is not breathing normally, it is just a question of time before they completely shut down. By acting immediately and administering First Aid until the cavalry arrives you can help raise their chances of survival and minimize possible collateral damage and recovery time. Should you crack a person's rib during CPR you were probably doing it wrong, but the fact that they are able to complain means that you have contributed to saving their life (and in many countries/jurisdictions you are protected by Good Samaritan law).