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Originally Posted by MandoMan

IF the AED volunteer arrives and uses the equipment before the pros arrive, the chances of surviving to the point of leaving the hospital alive double, from 7% to 14%. However, the percentage who have heart attacks and need AED has decreased in the past twenty years from 70% to 80% to 10% to 30%. Trying to defibrillate someone who doesn’t need it is not helpful. In probably most cases, the local volunteers trained can’t get there in time anyway.

Leaving the hospital alive does NOT mean returning home happy and healthy. Many more of the survivors then go to rehab hospitals or nursing home. Or they go home but have significant memory loss and perhaps can’t drive again, much less play golf again. I really don’t like those odds. It is NOT the way it is shown on TV.

“Survival After Application of Automatic External Defibrillators Before Arrival of the Emergency Medical System”
“ Of 13,769 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, 4,403 (32.0%) received bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation but had no AED applied before EMS arrival, and 289 (2.1%) had an AED applied before EMS arrival. The AED was applied by health care workers (32%), lay volunteers (35%), police (26%), or unknown (7%). Overall survival to hospital discharge was 7%. Survival was 9% (382 of 4,403) with bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation but no AED, 24% (69 of 289) with AED application, and 38% (64 of 170) with AED shock delivered. In multivariable analyses adjusting for: 1) age and sex; 2) bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation performed; 3) location of arrest (public or private); 4) EMS response interval; 5) arrest witnessed; 6) initial shockable or not shockable rhythm; and 7) study site, AED application was associated with greater likelihood of survival (odds ratio: 1.75; 95% confidence interval: 1.23 to 2.50; p < 0.002). Extrapolating this greater survival from the ROC EMS population base (21 million) to the population of the U.S. and Canada (330 million), AED application by bystanders seems to save 474 lives/year.”
“ In recent years, emergency medical services (EMS) recordings of initial cardiac arrest rhythms show a striking decline in the incidence of ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) that may benefit from AED use. Initial VT/VF rhythms accounted for 70% to 80% of cardiac arrests 20 years ago (25), but now constitute only 10% to 30% of arrests (8,25,26). Non-VT/VF arrests (asystole and pulseless electrical rhythms) do not benefit from AEDs, and furthermore, their use may delay life-saving measures such as bystander CPR in such patients.”
Article from National Library of Medicine: Survival After Application of Automatic External Defibrillators Before Arrival of the Emergency Medical System: Evaluation in the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Population of 21 Million - PMC

The AED will only shock a shockable rhythm. The AED is dummy proof and that's the reason anyone can use them. Never leave someone to get an AED, start CPR and call 911. Or 911 and CPR.