bookofjoe

'What's in your head — throw it away!' — 10th-century Persian spiritual master Abu Said ibn Abil-Khair

More: "What's in your hand — give it up! Whatever happens — don't turn away from it."

A thousand years later, still good advice.

BehindTheMedspeak: How much would you pay for a used defibrillator?

I raise the question because of an interesting discussion on allnurses.com centering on the attempted resale of five defibrillators stolen from Columbus, Ohio hospitals.

The devices were valued at $10,000-$15,000 apiece, and were on sale for $4,000 each.

Among the comments from nurses on the website:

"But srsly, who would buy a defibrillator unit at a secondhand store?"

"Would it be noticeable via autopsy if you killed someone intentionally by defibrillation? Maybe they were sold for more sinister reasons? Why the heck else would you want one? If you are in vfib you won't be able to defib yourself...."

"They were probably stolen simply to make money. Someone who has a family member with a heart condition whose insurance won't pay for a defibrillator would quite possibly — if desperate enough — be willing to buy one. But, at any rate — it's completely bizarre"

Would it be noticeable via autopsy if you killed someone intentionally by defibrillation? "That's a really interesting question. I tried to do a search if that was a possibility, but couldn't find anything, but did find an interesting article where an EMT as a joke used the paddles on a co-worker, and killed her. It was determined that it does/could kill if used on a person with a beating heart. If a killer could use them to kill without detection would make a great story point for a show like 'The Sopranos.'"

"I remember that story. You would have thought they would have known better. One of my friends was at a party many years ago, and a girl there decided to use her stun gun on herself to see if it really worked. Um, yes, it did."

"CPR classes need them for demonstrations. Maybe to be sold in different countries"

"Umm, duh! Obviously there would be huge burns where you defib someone... plus probable increase in potassium as well as creatine."

Writer's Block Erasers

kawaii

From the website:

There's a new eraser on the block!

This idea started from a sketch and we made it concrete.

These erasers take the form of miniature cinder blocks so that you can both build & play.

• 33mm x 17mm x 18mm

4-pack: $8.