MASSDEVICE ON CALL — After an American Heart Assn. recommendation in 2000, hospitals around the country spent millions updating to automated defibrillators to improve the chances of saving patients who go into sudden cardiac arrest.
Research shows that the newer defibrillators, now present in almost every hospital in the country, actually save fewer lives than the older, low-tech defibrillators.
More than 1,000 more hospital patients die of cardiac arrest every year in the U.S. because of the AHA-endorsed switch to automated defibrillators, according to the L.A. Times.
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"What we thought would work hasn’t worked so far," Roger White, a doctor on the subcommittee that provided defibrillator advice to the AHA told the newspaper.
The American Heart Assn. admitted to making their 2000 recommendation without any evidence that the newer automated defibrillators would work any better than the older versions.
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