What happens if a pm recipient dies?

I am trying to understand how the heart and everything around it works.

Could someone explain: my doc says the pm will not make the heart beat once a person dies. however, how does the pm find out that the person has died? after all, it is configured (for people like me) to keep the rhythm when my heartbeat pauses... and -for others- to revive you with a defib-function.

about me: 32yr old male with a pm since Aug 2010. I have (or had) AV Block III and a resting heart rate of below 40 (now a minimum 50). I don't have a defib installed, just a regular Adapta by Medtronic.

11 Comments

Pacemaker After Death

by Bill-2 - 2010-09-20 04:09:08

A simple and crude way to put it is "dead meat can't beat." That was the answer I got when I asked the nurse doing my checkup one time.

turning off

by sam78 - 2010-09-20 06:09:50

The pacemaker will not know that you have died or that it does not need to fire anymore until someoone actually shuts it off.. usually the hospital or the medical examiner call the company and they come shut it off.

When The Patient Dies

by J.B. - 2010-09-20 09:09:36

The Pacemaker Club is not the only place people ask the question about what our pacemaker does when we die. "Yahoo Answers" has a question and answer forum and below are some of the answers people have received there on this question.

"A pacemaker delivers a low voltage electrical impulse that needs live tissue to respond....so if you look at an ECG of a dead person with a pacemaker, you may see the pacemaker spikes indicating the impulses generated until the battery dies....normally pacers are not turned off when a person has died, they are not reusable in another body, and they do not stop firing on their own....they are controlled by and programmed by a computer and medical ethics determines if they are ever turned off...they will be removed from a body post-mortum if the body is to be cremated so they do not explode."

"A pacemaker is designed to help regulate a heart rhythm if the bodies own electrical heart regulator fails to kick in (SA Node). A pacemaker does not deliver a" shock". The heart rate, which kicks in should the SA Node not function at or by a certain time, is predetermined by the cardiologist. So, if a person should pass, the pacemaker will only kick in during a certain heart rate. Once a persons' heart rate falls way below what a functioning SA Node rate should be at, the pacemaker will cease to function."

Thanks!

by talldave - 2010-09-21 09:09:25

Thanks to everyone for your comments! Helpful information!

however

by sam78 - 2010-09-21 12:09:00

the first response is mostly true however the second answer is completely false (from the response directly above)... as we all know that pacemakers do not cease to function unless turned off or battery dead.

Or creamate her

by ElectricFrank - 2010-09-22 08:09:18

LOL

Dead Patient-Live Pacemaker

by ElectricFrank - 2010-09-22 12:09:53

The pacemaker will continue to generate pacing pulses to the ventricles as long as the battery lasts. (As an example I have my first pacemaker here on the table next to me. I connect an oscilloscope to it and it it still pulsing away. Poor thing probably hasn't seen my DNR). Anyway, if something happens to the physical heart like a blocked coronary artery the heart will quickly lose the ability to respond to the pacemakers impulse. It's possible that there might be a few minutes where the pacer can prod the heart into twitching a bit, but nothing significant. An ICD might keep things going a while longer, but would quickly run down its battery.

The one question I have is how a paramedics ECG would respond to the pacer signals from a dead person.

If I die I'll post the answer here LOL

frank

Sam78

by Bill-2 - 2010-09-23 08:09:11

It may help if you would read a comment and understand what is said before telling someone their reply "is completely false." I never said the pacemaker would quit working, I just said "dead meat can't beat." An intelligent person would know that means even if the dead heart muscle receives an electrical impulse to make it beat it is not going to respond.

I have noticed several times that you are an expert in most matters pertaining to the heart and pacemakers and you let people know it. So as to not have you telling me what I have said is completely false again, when you don't even know what I said, I'll just bid you and the Pacemaker Club adios. It doesn't need me and I damn sure don't need it. Keep it up and piss off a few more people and you can have the entire site to your self. That way you can try sending yourself private messages I guess.

Bill-2

Sam78

by ElectricFrank - 2010-09-24 01:09:40

When we get a long string of comments it is often hard to tell who someone is talking about. This thread in particular is hard to follow. I've read it several times and can't be sure what you are upset about. For one thing there are serious and joking posts intermixed.

best,

frank

Bill-2

by ElectricFrank - 2010-09-24 02:09:08

I goofed. I meant the last comment for you. This is the craziest thread I've seen in a while, or maybe just my age catching up with me.

Anyway Sam, it wasn't for you.

This whole thing reminds me of the last time I was wrong...I thought I was wrong and I wasn't. LOL

frank

Pacemakers

by Cprice - 2014-05-21 02:05:24

Lucky me I'm fitted with a boston bsi sciencetific altrua 40 which is classed as a super pacemaker(according to my heart doctor here in the uk)My pacemaker regularly shocks my heart if it stops and it can also slow it down, speed it up, stop my dizzy and black out spells and keep it regular plus stop skipping and extra beats plus stop and restart if if my vt is being bad. The computer on the pacemaker can hold a maximum of 15 programs as well!!!.

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