It is safer to have a heart attack in an airport or casino than in a hospital.
Why? One reason is that many hospitals still rely on old-fashioned defibrillators rather than the newer ones found in public places. The new ones are fully automated, faster and easy to use.
Chances of surviving a heart attack are nearly 40 percent if you are defibrillated within two minutes of the attack–but fall to 22 percent if it takes longer. Hospital staffs in the study took longer than two minutes in nearly one third of all cases.
