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I've heard people say that a defibrillator being used on someone whose heart has a normal beat, like if they have a blocked throat and can't breathe, but still have a regular pulse. However, I have also heard that defibrillators only stop and restart the heart. Wouldn't people then suffer the same risk from defibrillators if their heart is functioning normally as if it were stopped?

DarkLightA
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    Defibrillators shouldn't be used on people who have a functioning heart. Some defibrillators however, such as the ones found in shopping centers, can often detect whether the patients heart is beating or not. Therefore if you are unsure, it is ok to attach the defibrillator and it will alert you as to whether a shock is required or not. – Kenshin Jan 06 '13 at 13:12
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    Seems to be a dupe :-) – Sklivvz Jan 06 '13 at 15:01
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    I don't think it is a duplicate. The link is about using defibrillator on a flat lined person (no heart beat), but this question is about using a defibrillator on a living person with a normal rhythm. – Kenshin Jan 06 '13 at 17:01
  • @Chris, yes, but person's heart stops beating during the first electric shock, and, just after, the person is in the same conditions we have in the original question. So, as Sklivvz said, the question is a duplicate, being the difference in the initial conditions only. – Carlo Alterego Jan 06 '13 at 20:06
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    Well, that question didn't answer my question. @Carlo_R. what is your source to say the heart stops after defibrillation of a healthy person? – DarkLightA Jan 06 '13 at 22:31
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    @Carlo_R., Your claim that the heart stops after an initial defibrillation is exactly what is in dispute. – Kenshin Jan 07 '13 at 02:19
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    This question is clearly NOT a duplicate. I vote to reopen. – Coomie Jan 08 '13 at 01:18
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    I can't make out what the claim is that we are being skeptical about. If the question is [How do defibrillators works?](http://www.explainthatstuff.com/defibrillators.html) it is off-topic. If the question is "Wouldn't using a defibrillator on a regular heartbeat be dangerous?", it is off-topic (unless there is a claim to the contrary). – Oddthinking Jan 10 '13 at 11:39
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    Also "living person" in the title is confusing: Defibrillators are intended to work on living people - living people suffering defibrillation. That might be why the dupe issue is arising. – Oddthinking Jan 10 '13 at 11:40
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    The things you have heard seem all incorrect to me. However, as Oddthinking wrote, you have not included [a reference to a notable claim - of which you are skeptical](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/faq) – RedGrittyBrick Jan 10 '13 at 12:10
  • **None**, because a correctly applied defibrillator *does not fire its electrical pulse* when it detects a proper heart rhythm. That's by design. – Shadur Dec 01 '18 at 22:05

2 Answers2

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Depending on the type of the defibrillator. The Automated external defibrillator (AED) units that are commonly available in airports, railway stations, government agencies, shopping centers and other places with lots of people, these are not dangerous to apply. The principle is that these "to-be-used-by-non-professionals" devices are "clever": they detect the conditions of the victim, and apply the shock only when fibrillation is happening, and in coordination with the specific detected fibrillation waveform. This means that they cannot operate on dead bodies, or on people with normal cardiac activity. For more information on these see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_external_defibrillator

This is not the case of the medical defibrillators that do not detect the victim's conditions and apply the shock as the medic orders. In this case, the assumption is that the medic is watching the electrocardiogram continuously and selecting the timing and parameters of intervention in a similar (but more flexible) way to what an AED unit does automatically.

Jirka Hanika
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I am no scientist, but have worked as an EMT for a year.

Using a manual defibrillator on a person with a healthy heart is very dangerous. Aside from burns and other effects of an electrical shock, it is very likely to stop the heartbeat or cause ventricular fibrillation.

In general, a defibrillator is not used to start a heart but to get it out of ventricular fibrillation by either stopping it or bringing it back to a regular pulse.

user11033
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  • +1, Welcome to stack.exchange. Thankyou for your valuable contribution to my site. :D Please come again. – Kenshin Jan 10 '13 at 14:00
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    Welcome to Skeptics! Please [provide some references](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/5) to support your claims. – Oddthinking Jan 10 '13 at 14:06
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    BTW--The EMT I know has a big pile of reference books from his training. I believe that quotes from those books (with the appropriate bibliographic data) would be "authoritative refernces" within the meaning used on the site, though a good on-line source would be prefereable. The downvotes should cease (and hopefully be reverted) once references are supplied. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Jan 10 '13 at 15:04
  • Thanks for your answer. However, I'm surprised by it. Is there a greater risk of the heart stopping if a person with a normal heart rate is exposed to a defibrillation than a person with a fibrillating heart? – DarkLightA Jan 10 '13 at 15:26
  • Good question DarkLightA. – Kenshin Jan 10 '13 at 15:37
  • @DarkLightA a defibrillator is designed to stop the heart momentarily so that a natural rhythm can be restored, there is always the chance the heart doesn't restart, but in those requiring its use they are very likely to die if proper rhythm is not restored. improper use can very easily kill a person which is why newer machines are equipped to determine if the shock should be delivered when the button is pushed. – Ryathal Jan 10 '13 at 16:51
  • Well, I recognize that it can kill a person, but is it more likely if it's a healthy person; that was my question. – DarkLightA Jan 11 '13 at 15:31
  • @DarkLightA: While applied to a person with a heart that doesn't move, it can't make the condition any worse, it can only help or not. Applied to a person with working heart it can't make the condition better, it may just cause harm or not. So you can't say it's defibrillation that killed the person with stopped heart, it was the original condition... thus the chance it kills a healthy person is infinity times higher. – SF. Jan 11 '13 at 16:41