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Cardiac Safety

Death of Athlete from Sudden Cardiac Arrest Highlights Need for AED Training

According to the September 12, 2004 story in the Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, when rising football star Ryan Boslet suffered sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) during a workout at his school gym on February 20, 2003, the AED the school had only recently purchased wasn't used - even though it was just the length of a basketball court away in the athletic director's office - because a staff member couldn't find the adhesive electrode pads, which were tucked under a flap inside the AED. Thinking the device was inoperable, coaches called 911, and administered CPR to the 6-foot-4, 270 pound defensive tackle, but the 17-year old died later that day. Boslet's death, said the story, points to a larger problem: "Ordinary people, even with training, often can't use the increasingly popular defibrillators under the pressure of an emergency."

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