Some of the Risks Associated with AED Use in Houston, TX
Houston injury lawyers inform you about increasing numbers of concerned organizations and professionals that indicate use of AEDs (automated external defibrillators) might be inappropriate in many of the situations when they are used. They say that these AEDs might do more harm than good in many situations.
Most everyone concedes that using an AED in a situation where trained medical help might be hours away, such as on an airplane, could prove decisive in saving the life of someone who has gone into cardiac arrest. But in other situations, AED use might actually be counterproductive. Our Houston injury lawyers mention some instances of inappropriate AED use below.
Using an AED on a teen that has collapsed with apparent heart failure might be ill advised. The usual causes of heart failure in a teen are respiratory arrest and trauma. And the teen’s heart will most likely be in an asystole (flat-line) or PEA state, where an AED is of no use whatsoever. AEDs deliver electric shocks designed to stimulate correct heart rhythms in those suffering from ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF). In both VT and VF states, a weak heart rhythm is still present; it just requires a shock to help reset it into a natural rhythm.
Using AEDs on Houston, TX hospital patients who have gone into cardiac arrest may prove fatal. These patients are often weakened by other conditions. They require timely diagnosis, corrective action to the heart rhythm, and CPR chest compression to re-oxygenate the heart. AEDs require relatively long time intervals to diagnose a patient’s heart rhythm and respond with a proper signal. During this time, the needed chest compression must stop. Houston, TX injury lawyers know that patients might die while the AED is making its diagnosis.
Bad batteries in AEDs have been known to render them ineffective and actively dangerous.
In some cases, AEDs have suddenly engaged for unknown reasons. In other cases, AEDS have mysteriously stopped in the middle of administering treatment. Many thousands of AED medical devices have been recalled for product defects.
Our Houston injury lawyers state that the bottom line is that reliance on a piece of automated technology to try to save the life of a flesh and blood human being could be actively dangerous where trained medical professionals and manual defibrillators could be used instead. Where you have no choice, for instance if you’re on a plane or a ship with no doctor and no medical help nearby, an AED might be your only hope to save a life. But if you have a choice, look to a trained medical professional and a manual cardiac intervention if you can.