TromboneAl
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2006
- Messages
- 12,880
Prompted by Windsurf's story about his heart attack, here's a question that has been simmering in my subconscious for a long time:
If a fuse blows in my house, and I replace it without correcting the problem that caused the fuse to blow, it will just blow again.
If my car stops because it ran out of gas, I can't just start it again, I have to put gas in it, then it will start.
So why is it that when the heart stops (or fibrillates), and we shock it, it starts again, even though we've done nothing to correct whatever it was that made it stop (or fibrillate)?
If a fuse blows in my house, and I replace it without correcting the problem that caused the fuse to blow, it will just blow again.
If my car stops because it ran out of gas, I can't just start it again, I have to put gas in it, then it will start.
So why is it that when the heart stops (or fibrillates), and we shock it, it starts again, even though we've done nothing to correct whatever it was that made it stop (or fibrillate)?