Study shows Hospital not the Best Place to have Heart Attack

According to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine about 33% of all patients who go into cardiac arrest at a hospital are not treated with a defibrillator in the crucial first two minutes. This leads to a significant increase in the number of deaths in these cases and also an increase in the number of cases of severe brain damage. The study indicates that when defibrillation is delayed only 20% of patients survive long enough to leave the hospital as opposed to a 40% survival rate when the shock is given within the initial two minute window. The report blames understaffing in hospitals, patients admitted for problems other than heart trouble, and a lack of proper equipment for the slow response. Researchers found that emergency treatment typically arrives faster at a casino than in a hospital.