Quote: El Diablo "
As for defibs, I'm unconvinced by the benefits of having them dotted around everywhere. It would have been of no value or relevance in this case, or most others. Most people who reach the stage of needing one will not recover, contrary to what you see on TV, and they are quite dangerous things to use without proper training. When somebody needs emergency defibrillation it's a bit of a shot-to-nothing as they are effectively dead without it, but making the judgement that they've reached that point is not something to be entrusted to the genreal public. IMO.'"
I can see the pros and cons of defibs in public places - where people are correctly trained to use them then they are invaluable and more effective the sooner they are used. The problem with having them easily accessible in public places is the risk someone without the training would try to help and as easy as they are to use they are still very dangerous if used incorrectly.
Personally I think more people trained in first aid probably has more benfits than having the defibs dotted around - a lot of time if someone goes into cardiac arrest it won't be somewhere a defib is available (people don't have them in their homes, they aren't available when walking down the street etc etc) I have been a first aider for 14 years and the only time I have had to do CPR in that time being defib trained would have been no use at all because I was in the middle of the street at the time. I know a lot more people who have had to do CPR in positions where a defib wasn't immediately available than have where the defib was available.
That said places such as Rugby Grounds and similar should (and in all honesty probably do) have defibs and operators available at all times.