In honor of one of my HEART-y doctor friends, today I'm going to tell the story of a 20th century physician who refused to take "no" for an answer.

Frank Pantridge was a 45-year-old cardiologist working at a hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland when he was disturbed by a problem: Too many heart attack victims arrived at the hospital already dead. If they had gotten there sooner, he might have saved them with a defibrillator. Note: Defibrillators are basically electronic "paddles" that deliver a shock to people having "ventricular fibrillations" (my doctor friend knows that as rapid, uncontrolled heart contractions), which comprise the most deadly heart attack symptom.

The delivered electricity typically causes the contractions to stop.

Instead of addressing the issue of faster ambulances, Frank questioned what could happen if the defibrillator was brought to the patient.

His Belfast colleagues "pooh-poohed" the idea dwelling on the thought that only trained doctors like themselves were qualified to operate defibrillators, not EMTs.

He wasn't discouraged, although hardly encouraged. He persisted and in 1965 he tested a device of his own design.

The thing weighed 150 pounds and he powered it with car batteries. He had it installed in one of their ambulances and during the next 15 months it successfully defibrillated 10 people.

Even with that success, it took several years for Dr. Frank's innovation to catch on. However, today there are portable defibrillators in ambulances all over the world, and on airplanes and in fire stations.


In proceeding without the support of his colleagues, Frank Pantridge may have literally saved millions of people. The moral? Never discount the stubbornness of a physician with the health of his patients in mind.

Dr. Pantridge died in 2004 fully aware of his lifesaving contribution. Today, you can order defibrillators through the Internet. makes them available (probably with a book you can read as the patient is recovering).

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