DSK wrote:
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

I remember an incident at one place I worked at where an employee
collapsed and a well meaning soul proceeded, without training, to
try to administer CPR. Unfortunately, the person was not suffering
from a heart attack or respiratory failure, but was having a grand
mal seizure and ended up breaking a few teeth and biting his tongue
severly. He also sustained bruises on his chest where the samaritan
had thumped him. It was fortunate that someone in the know arrived
in time before the savior became a killer.