wrote in message
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"Wayne.B" wrote in message
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On Sun, 08 Apr 2007 19:26:16 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

How many of you cruisers carry an automatic defibrillator onboard as
part of your emergency medical supplies?

I've heard of a few but I'm not yet among them. How much training is
required to use them correctly, and how large are they?

I do not carry a defibrillator on board yet.
I carry Nitro spray. Hopefully the Nitro spray can be used before a need
arises for a defibrillator.
They say you do not keep to be trained to use one. That remains to be
seen.
I am due for an update on my marine first aid in about 12 months.
I do not recall having had any training on defibrillator yet.
At this time, I think on any cruising convoy the last boat that carry the
spares should be carrying a defibrillator on board with the proper
training to use it.

These new Automatic defibrillators are supposed to be smart.
Once the patient is connected to the machine it will read and analysed the
vital signs.
Then it will trigger the necessary action for the machine. In practice,
they say if you can get there within 10 minutes there is a 40 % chance of
resuscitating the patient.
Now every one is very enthusiasm about this machine. The police cars,
hockey arenas and the like are all getting equipped and trained to use this
automatic defibrillator.
The other side is "the legal aspect". I remember one evening when we were
doing our very best to resuscitate a man that had a massive heart attack.
After doing all what we could with the current knowledge and equipment of
those days the family doctor came in. He told us to stop because the man
was death. Immediately after the doctor's statement the wife and kids all
jump on us saying you kill him you kill him. Luckily the family doctor told
the wife and kids that nothing could have been done because we arrived too
late, they then calm down. Maybe if we would have been called earlier we
could have done something.
Nevertheless it did traumatise me.
So legal aspect will have to be cleared up accordingly. Otherwise some good
Samaritans could be suit for wrong doing.