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Featured Clinical Reviews

Editorial
November 17, 2010

Automated External Defibrillators and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Author Affiliations

Author Affiliations: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Royal Oak, Michigan.

JAMA. 2010;304(19):2178-2179. doi:10.1001/jama.2010.1674

Sudden cardiac arrest remains a significant public health problem. Successful resuscitation from tachyarrhythmic cardiac arrest increases if time to defibrillation is reduced.1,2 Therefore, early detection of life-threatening arrhythmias followed by rapid initiation of effective therapy has been the goal. Patients requiring hospitalization benefit from being admitted to a facility where special resuscitation equipment and trained personnel are in close proximity around the clock.

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