Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator (AED)
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Product Reviews of Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator (AED)
Product Review: It is not fair...
Summary: 5 Stars
It is irresponsible for people that do not know about this, to post in your site any opinion about something as important as sudden death. There are two people in your site (both of them signing as EMTs), saying that an AED is not so important to prevent sudden death.
I am a cardiologist and have been training people in Emergency Cardiac Care for years now and can say that they are absolutely wrong. I have no relation with any AED manufacturer and all of the FDA approved ones are good.
VF and VT are the cause of most sudden cardiac deaths. About 80% of people who dies suddenly have this arrythmia as the main cause. Just in the US, every year die more people of VF or VT than of car accidents, house fires, breast cancer and prostate cancer together.
This does not mean that to have a HeartStart AED in your home is as good as controling risk factors or going to a hospital if you have chest pain or shortness of breath. But, if someone in your home has a heart condition you can save them with an AED if you act in the first 8 minutes after cardiac arrest. The AED is a very effective device if used well. You should also learn CPR but, without defibrillation, the chance of surviving is a lot less.
In places like O'Hare Airport in Chicago they save about one person every two weeks using defibrillators. No one can affirm that all AEDs WILL save lives. But they could. It is not indicated for everyone but, for someone who can spend $1500 and have a heart condition that make them prone to sudden death, this device can be a very justificable spending.
Product Review: It is simple to use, may possibly save a life, and the price is worth the peace of mind.
Summary: 5 Stars
I just completed the red cross Adult AED training course, and had the opportunity to train with this exact Philips device. The machine is very simple to use, and gives very clear and precise audio instructions while using it.
I absolutely recommend an AED training course, or else at minimum reading the directions thoroughly BEFORE you ever are in a situation where you might have to use the AED, so that you are familiar and comfortable with the steps you would take in the unfortunate case that you would actually have to use the AED.
I understand other reviewers' perspectives that the investment may not be 'cost effective', and that the likelihood that you would ever use it is very low and so therefore a 'waste of money'.
Yes it is expensive, but you cannot really put a price on a saved life - it is priceless. And, the cost for the AED has come down significantly in the last year. If you can afford a Starbucks coffee every day, for example, then you can certainly afford to buy one of these.
In my opinion, the AED provides a tremendous value as a worst-case precautionary measure.... Though the AED only works in select cases of fibrillation, and the strength of shock is lower than what an EMT can provide, the point of this AED is in cases when you have called 911, and help is on the way but NOT YET THERE.... it only shocks if after the device performs an analysis, it determines the shock is appropriate for the situation -- so you don't risk hurting the person in distress by using it, as long as you follow the simple directions (i.e. when it is analyzing and shocking, you and all other parties must stand clear and not touch the person who is being cared for).
I also recommend learning or reviewing CPR skills and procedures so that you know what to do in the event that you need to provide care for someone else. If you ever use the AED, you will likely need to also perform CPR.
Perhaps this is not true for everybody. But for me, in my own case, it is better to have the peace of mind that I try and do everything I possibly can to help aide and care for a person in distress.
I hope and pray that this is the "worst" investment I have ever made as I hope to never be in a situation where I would have to actually USE the AED -- but if I ever do find myself where a person in my home is suffering from chest pain or becomes unconscious, I would rather have the AED on hand (and know how to use it) and take the chance that it might help them, but know there is a good chance it might not, but at least I know I did everything I could while waiting for the EMT to arrive.... than not have the AED as an option at all.
Product Review: It only has to save a life once
Summary: 3 Stars
Here's my disclaimer: I am NOT a physician, physiologist, or EMT. Nor have I ever even used this particular device.
Here is what I AM: Someone who has witnessed a similar device save the life of a dear friend and colleague.
I know that this type of device can save lives in some situations because I saw it happen! Some folks have posted reviews which cite some grim survival rates. However, these statistics appear to be based upon some very broad ranges of incidents - ie. they don't break down the survival rate by HOW SOON the defibrillator was applied to the victim. I have been told that the survival rate is highly dependent on how quickly the heartbeat is restored. I.e. if the heartbeat is in V-Fib for only two or three minutes, the survival rate is much higher than the cited grim statistics.
In our case, we were attending an event at a hotel in Laughlin, Nevada when a friend dropped down like an anchor in the middle of a sentence from a Ventricular Fibrillation. One of our other friends was a CPR instructor and he immediately recongnized the need for CPR and began administering it. The hotel security was called and told of the dire emergency and they very quickly responded by sending one of their security personnel with an automatic defibrillator. He ripped the shirt off our friend's chest and placed the electrodes in the positions indicated. The device he used was talking him through everything. It told us to stand back while it tested the heart rhythm and then quickly advised us to not touch the victim because a shock would be administered. After the shock happened, it re-analyzed the heart rhythm and advised us that the heartbeat had been restored. Many minutes later the local EMT's arrived with their even more sophisticated equipment. Our friend was quickly taken off to the hospital.
There is NO doubt that the prompt use of the automatic defibrillator saved his life. He was elderly and had preexisting heart problems and he still does - FOUR YEARS LATER. We love every christmas card we get!
Well, no one can guarantee any particular outcome, but, if time is precious (and it IS when someone is in V-Fib), having an automatic defibrillator close at hand can literally be a life-saver.
I agree with the others that a person should also improve their odds with reasonable training on these issues, as well.
To hell with the callous critics.
PS Laughlin, Nevada was a test bed for the use of automatic defibrillators. It was nothing but luck on our part to be in a hotel where they had one. We credit good planning by the hotel folks and the automated defibrillator with saving a life.
PPS. How do you thing the security guard felt after he fully realized that he had saved a life??
Product Review: John Stevenson
Summary: 5 Stars
Contrary to what John Stevenson said in his review, you cannot administer a shock to someone who does not need it.
The device has a built-in monitoring function that only allows you to shock when it detects the inproper heart function.
Product Review: LEARN CPR!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I am an EMT and retired Hospital Administrator.
Like the first reviewer I view marketing this without the proper training to be irresponsible.
If the person has a Myocardial Infarction, resulting in a true "flat line" ECG a Defibrillator is useless without the proper drugs which have to be given intraveniously or injected directly into the heart to start random heart activity.
Only then can a defibrillator shock the heart into proper pumping action.
The most important thing a layman can do is learn CPR. If you can keep OXYGEN going into the lungs and then circulate that oxygen to the brain and heart (PUMPING) you have done the ONLY really important thing. If people use this for a Myocardial Infarction, INSTEAD of IMMEDIATELY starting effective CPR, the TIME Philips causes them to waste deprives the brain of oxygen and dooms the patient.
I've defibed scores of patients but NEVER successfully unless two people had already done CPR until we could get the drugs injected first.
The gentleman with the implanted device does not have a Myocardial Infarction ...just an electrical arrythmia which the little battery in his device can sense and "retime" the heart....thats a whole different thing.
For an MI learn to do CPR properly. If you can get oxygen to the brain you can keep the person in a salvagable state until properly trained persons with ALL the tools, heart stimulants, bicarbonate to return the blood to it's proper Ph etc can arrive and the defibrillation have a chance of working.
Phillips can market this thing only because it has a computer which keeps it from working when it shouldn't so the FDA figured it's harmless. BUT IF IT WASTES TIME in starting CPR, it's NOT harmless.
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