After Gary Hobish collapsed while swing-dancing with friends in Golden Gate Park Sunday, a fellow dancer raced to the nearby de Young Museum in search of a defibrillator. Most people in the group knew Hobish, 70, had a heart condition. Seconds counted.
Inside the museum, Tim O’Brien found himself pleading with a staff member to let him use the life-saving device, or to accompany him back to where Hobish, a legend of the Bay Area music scene, lay unconscious. O’Brien offered the museum staffer his wallet and his watch as collateral.
The museum staffer checked with his boss, but the answer was firm: The de Young defibrillator could not leave the building.
O’Brien sprinted empty handed back to the group, where a doctor who had luckily been on the scene was administering CPR. Paramedics arrived a few minutes later, but by then nearly 10 minutes had gone by, O’Brien said.
But I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody outside of a small circle of friends
Hey [insert condescending name here] - I have Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. For your and anyone else's information, the disease can cause sustained arrythmia like ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation, and yeah, a defibrillator (as the name would imply) is essential in such cases. If all you're imagining are the structural changes of hearts with HCM you're both ignorant and actively spreading disinformation. The man was out dancing, so presumably not in advanced heart failure. This sounds consistent with cases of sudden onset deadly arrythmia. If they can be terminated sooner rather than later then the heart can return to a healthy rhythm and avoid cardiac arrest entirely.
*Edited in compliance with mod request
A close family member of mine had HCM and was saved several times from defibrillators, internal and external.
The shocks suck real bad (if you're conscious for them) but they sure beat the alternative. I'm glad your family came through it.
I'm replying to my removed comment asking mods to re permit it. I have edited it in accordance with their reason for removal.