GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

Cynic · 25-01-2012, 03:00 PM posted to uk.d-i-y,uk.legal,uk.rec.gardening

On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:44:31 +0000 (GMT), wrote:

Any domestic life support machine that is designed so that it would
kill the patient in the event of a mains power outage would not be fit
for purpose.

That is true, but the general approach in this country is that
all that is needed is protection for long enough to call for an
ambulance. The same applies to 'first-aid' courses, which don't
even contemplate the possibility that you might be more than a
minute away from a telephone, let alone from a road.

It would not surprise me if the backup had a design time of only
a couple of hours. That isn't enough for any non-trivial trip,
including getting to the nearest shops in many cases.

So long as it included an automatic and reliable call for human
assistance, it would not result in a fatality. There are plenty of
ways for providing such a call that are sufficiently reliable in the
fact of a power cut - at the very basic level it could simply be a
battery-operated siren to alert neighbours (who have been informed of
the situation).

People on home life-support will always have a carer, and the carer
will need to take account of any time limitations.

--
Cynic