katysails wrote:
My fear is that with the spread of these machines to local
establishments and businesses, more harm than hurt is going to occur.
And the thought of some little kid playing "doctor" on his friends or
siblings leaves me cold....

Well, my understanding is that the machines sold to the
public as Automatic External Defibrillators cannot be made
to shock a person who isn't already dead (ie no pulse). The
problem I see with the AEDs are that people will assume that
they're magical devices that eliminate the need for common
sense. After all, why worry about a heart attack when every
MacDonalds and every Jiffy Gas-N-Go has an AED handy?

Another issue is that there are a large number of people
whom these machines cannot help, and if the people on the
scene waste valuable time fooling around with an AED instead
of getting real medical aid, those people will suffer great
harm or death.

Regards
Doug King