Question

During an attempted resuscitation of a 78-year-old woman in cardiac arrest, you apply the defibrillation pads and turn on the cardiac monitor. Her cardiac rhythm reveals asystole. Suddenly, the machine shuts off and will not turn back on when you push the power button. You continue resuscitative efforts and transport the patient to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Upon returning to quarters, you learn that the crew before you also had a cardiac arrest call, but did not replace the batteries in the monitor/defibrillator. In this case: What is the most likely cause of the machine shutting off during resuscitation?

1) The batteries in the monitor/defibrillator were dead
2) There was a malfunction in the power button
3) The patient's cardiac rhythm caused a power surge
4) The crew before did not properly connect the machine

Answer 1

The defibrillator turning off is most likely due to dead batteries after the previous crew's use and failure to replace them, which is a common cause for such devices to lose power.

Step-by-step explanation:

The most likely cause of the machine shutting off during resuscitation is that the batteries in the monitor/defibrillator were dead. Given the information that the previous crew used the device and did not replace the batteries, it is reasonable to conclude that the batteries being depleted is the cause of the device powering off. This is more plausible than a malfunction in the power button, a surge caused by the patient's cardiac rhythm, or improper connection by the previous crew, as these are less common occurrences and there is a known history of battery use without replacement.