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.'"
Have you ever used a de-fib trainer ?
One of the main reasons they're dotted around town centres now is that they ARE easy to use even by a lay-person and in a case where it is not a heart attack the machine WILL NOT operate.
Whilst they are not the be-all and end-all of cardiac failure, the statistics will show that the chances of recovering from a heart attack after first aid is very low, this is offset by the relative small cost for a unit saving at least one life and thus, being worth it.
The recent first aid ethos says that if you're not breathing and you've no pluse / heartbeat, then you're 'brown bread'. Things cannot get any worse. However, if you do something and it is one of those rare occasions when it DOES make a difference, wouldn't you have rather had the satisfaction of using those easy to learn techniques there and then to make a difference ?