# What happens if a defibrilator paddles touch eachother? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229 "2015-08-19T00:36:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229/21 "2016-04-20T21:23:52Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#): > > Maybe this was in the days before batteries and they had to rub the paddles to build up a static charge. Depending on the type of paddles used, they would sometimes put conductive gel onto the surface of the paddles so that they would make a better electrical connection. Rubbing the paddles together smears the gel more evenly over the surface of the paddles. I don’t think gel is commonly applied to modern paddles, but this isn’t my field of expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229/22 "2016-04-21T01:22:09Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#): > > Maybe I am mis-remembering, but in old time TV shows, I think it was standard operating procedures to: > > 1. Rub the paddles together > 2. Yell out “Clear!!!” > 3. Apply the paddles to the chest > > I am thinking it was mainly “Emergency!” where I would see this. > > Maybe this was in the days before batteries and they had to rub the paddles to build up a static charge. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Depending on the type of paddles used, they would sometimes put conductive gel onto the surface of the paddles so that they would make a better electrical connection. Rubbing the paddles together smears the gel more evenly over the surface of the paddles. > > I don’t think gel is commonly applied to modern paddles, but this isn’t my field of expertise. Yep. I recently finished an _Emergency!_ binge on Netflix. This is how they did it. I wonder if **smithsb** has seen it–they did it right. The defibrillator showed the heartbeat, and they charged the machine only when the victim was in fibrillation. Although I did wonder why they bothered calling out the charge reading, since the machine’s tone changed in pitch when it was ready. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229/23 "2016-04-21T01:49:17Z")
My husband the retired paramedic says that as long as you have firm contact between the paddles when you press the button…nothing. That’s how they used to discharge paddles, actually, to test them or to safely put them away after you’d changed your mind about shocking a patient - before they had modern cases that discharge them as you slide them into their storage pockets. Of course, if there is a gap, there will be an arc, but it won’t damage the equipment. “There’s built in diodes to take it.” He also says that before the gel was used, they’d use saline soaked gauze pads, which sometimes caused arcing, and alcohol soaked gauze pads, which sometimes caused flash fires and burns. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229/24 "2016-04-21T02:42:12Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Depending on the type of paddles used, they would sometimes put conductive gel onto the surface of the paddles so that they would make a better electrical connection. Rubbing the paddles together smears the gel more evenly over the surface of the paddles. > > I don’t think gel is commonly applied to modern paddles, but this isn’t my field of expertise. The pads on an AED have gel built into them. It’s a higher viscosity (thicker) than the manual stuff they used to squeeze on the paddles in Emergency! & is already ideally placed on the pads, so no need to rub it around. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229/25 "2016-04-21T02:50:26Z")
You can kill someone with a defibrillator. [EMT charged in defibrillator death sentenced to year in jail](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1596630/posts) > [@](#): > > LEBANON VA - An emergency medical technician who pleaded guilty to killing a co-worker with a defibrillator paddle will be released from jail in early 2007 following a judge’s decision Tuesday evening. > > Russell County Circuit Judge Mike Moore called the June 1, 2005, death of 23-year-old Courtney Leighann Hilton “a senseless, foolish act” before handing down a 12-month jail sentence to Joshua Phillip Martin, 25, who entered an Alford plea in January to one count of involuntary manslaughter. > > In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains his innocence while acknowledging that the evidence is strong enough that a judge or jury probably would convict. > > State guidelines could have had Martin saddled with a 10-year maximum prison sentence, which Moore alluded to, but he chose to lessen the punishment and give Martin credit for time already served. > > “This is a difficult case for the court. It is hard to understand how something like this could happen … a defibrillator used to take someone’s life. … I’ve thought about my own kids when I think about this case,” the judge said. > > Hilton, who was originally from Scott County, was a single mother working her way through various classes and holding down a job as an EMT to help support her two children. > > She was riding in the passenger’s seat of an emergency vehicle owned by Highlands Ambulance Service when Martin, who had not even completed his first week of employment with the company, took a charged defibrillator paddle and stuck it to Hilton’s back. Hilton lapsed into cardiac arrest and later suffered multi-system organ failure, according to the Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office in Roanoke. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229/26 "2016-04-21T10:30:25Z")
Every single time you’re using a defibrillator, you’re killing someone. Some of them get better. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229/27 "2016-04-23T03:29:16Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Every single time you’re using a defibrillator, you’re killing someone. Some of them get better. no. The manslaughter occurred when he put one pad of defibrillator into her back. This would allow current to flow through her body to ground, instead of just from one pad to the other… And since it entered her body near her spine… nerve damage ? It was only his first week, so he probably hadn’t even had defib training… In training, they will tell you before you touch it " the defib is dangerous , it is a lethal weapon if used wrongly.". [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-a-defibrilator-paddles-touch-eachother/728229.md?page=1)