Method and apparatus of treating heart attack patients prior to the establishment of qualified direct contact personal care

Claim 2

obtaining access to the aforesaid accessible device and injectors;

Claim 3

establishing communication by telephone between said individual and a source capable of making a qualified response including said determination based upon the existing heart beat conditions of said individual;

Claim 4

establishing communication by telephone between said individual and a source capable of making a qualified response including said determination based upon the existing heart beat conditions of said individual;

Claim 5

obtaining access to the aforesaid accessible device and injector;

Claim 6

obtaining access to the aforesaid accessible device and injector;

Claim 9

positioning said electrode bodies within the armpits of the individual and self-retaining the same therein solely by the individual by engagement of the bodies between the adjacent arm portions and torso in the armpit areas;

Claim 10

positioning said electrode bodies within the armpits of the individual and self-retaining the same therein solely by the individual by engagement of the bodies between the adjacent arm portions and torso in the armpit areas;

Claim 11

transmitting the aforesaid produced signals over the established telephone communication to said source, and

Claim 12

transmitting the aforesaid produced signals over the established telephone communication to said source, and

Claim 13

positioning said electrode bodies within the armpits of the individual and self-retaining the same therein solely by the individual by engagement of the bodies between the adjacent arm portions and torso in the armpit areas;

Claim 14

positioning said electrode bodies within the armpits of the individual and self-retaining the same therein solely by the individual by engagement of the bodies between the adjacent arm portions and torso in the armpit areas;

Claim 15

A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said electrode bodies are positioned within the armpits of the individual with the exterior surface means of the electrode bodies in a dry condition.

Claim 16

A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of utilizing at least some of the signals for said determination comprises the steps of:

Claim 17

sensing through the operation of said electrode bodies while self-retained as aforesaid the electrical impulses which trigger the heart beats of the individual;

Claim 18

sensing through the operation of said electrode bodies while self-retained as aforesaid the electrical impulses which trigger the heart beats of the individual;

Claim 19

receiving over the established telephone communication a qualified response from said source including said determination.

Claim 20

receiving over the established telephone communication a qualified response from said source including said determination.

Claim 21

sensing through the operation of said electrode bodies while self-retained as aforesaid the electrical impulses which trigger the heart beats of the individual;

Claim 22

sensing through the operation of said electrode bodies while self-retained as aforesaid the electrical impulses which trigger the heart beats of the individual;

Claim 23

producing through the operation of said battery operated signal producing means signals indicative of the existing heart beat conditions of said individual including a signal corresponding with each successive heart beat of said individual capable of being transmitted by telephone;

Claim 24

producing through the operation of said battery operated signal producing means signals indicative of the existing heart beat conditions of said individual including a signal corresponding with each successive heart beat of said individual capable of being transmitted by telephone;

Claim 25

A method as defined in claim 3 wherein said electrode bodies are positioned within the armpits of the individual with the exterior surface means of the electrode bodies in a dry condition.

Claim 26

producing through the operation of said battery operated signal producing means signals indicative of the sensed heart beat conditions of said individual including a signal corresponding with each successive heart beat of said individual capable of being transmitted by telephone;

Claim 27

producing through the operation of said battery operated signal producing means signals indicative of the sensed heart beat conditions of said individual including a signal corresponding with each successive heart beat of said individual capable of being transmitted by telephone;

Claim 28

utilizing at least some of the signals produced as aforesaid as a basis for determining an indicated injector containing the medicament which is effective as aforesaid;

Claim 29

utilizing at least some of the signals produced as aforesaid as a basis for determining an indicated injector containing the medicament which is effective as aforesaid;

Claim 30

A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the medicaments contained within the injectors include atropine and lidocaine.

Claim 31

utilizing at least some of the signals produced as aforesaid as a basis for determining that the injector obtained by said individual contains medicament which is effective as aforesaid;

Claim 32

utilizing at least some of the signals produced as aforesaid as a basis for determining that the injector obtained by said individual contains medicament which is effective as aforesaid;

Claim 33

visually identifying the injector containing the effective medicament, and

Claim 34

visually identifying the injector containing the effective medicament, and

Claim 35

A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the injection of the medicament is accomplished automatically by the injector during said administering step.

Claim 36

visually identifying the indicated injector containing the effective medicament as aforesaid, and

Claim 37

visually identifying the indicated injector containing the effective medicament as aforesaid, and

Claim 40

Apparatus for effecting pre-hospital phase treatment of a coronary prone individual prior to the establishment of qualified direct contact personal care at a time during the early minutes or hours after the onset of heart attack symptoms and for enabling qualified personnel to participate by telephone in such treatment comprising the combination of: a plurality of separate injectors suitable for self-administration under the disconcerting circumstances present during the aforesaid time, each including container means containing a liquid dosage of a different medicament and means for injecting said dosage into the tissue of the individual effecting the self-administration of the injector, each of which medicaments (a) when so injected is generally effective to reduce the incidence of adverse cardiac conditions, such as ectopic beats, when the existing heart beat condition is within a different predetermined portion of the total range of heart beat conditions which may exist during an attack, and (b) may be inadvisable or unwise to inject when such heart beat conditions are outside the predetermined portion of the total range in which the medicament is effective as aforesaid, and a diagnosing device including housing means for enabling the same to be easily and conveniently carried, a pair of separate electrode bodies, said electrode bodies having exterior surface means for enabling said bodies to be easily positioned in the armpits of an individual and to be conveniently and comfortably self-retained in such position solely by the individual by engagement betweEn the adjacent arm portions and torso in the armpit areas, an elongated flexible lead element extending between each electrode body and said housing means, electrical conductor means operable when said electrode bodies are positioned and retained in the armpits of an individual as aforesaid, for establishing an electrical circuit within said housing means which extends therefrom through said lead elements and through said electrode bodies to the exterior surface means thereof and between the latter through the torso of the individual through which the electric impulses within the torso of the individual which trigger the heart beats of the individual are reliably conducted from the torso to said housing means, and battery operated electric circuit signal producing means carried by said housing means operable in response to the conducting of said electrical impulses through the aforesaid electrical circuit by said electrical conductor means to said housing means to amplify said electrical impulses and substantially suppress other electrical signals, such as artifact and the like, which may be conducted in said circuit, and to reliably produce output signals representative of the electrical impulses of the heart of the individual, the container means of said injectors and the housing means of said diagnosing device enabling a coronary prone individual to retain said injectors and device in a position of access substantially at all times so that during a time within the early minutes or hours after the onset of heart attack symptoms experienced by the individual access to said device can be obtained enabling said electrode bodies to be disposed within the armpits of the individual and said signal producing means to produce signals utilizable to provide an indication that an identifiable injector when administered is effective by virtue of the medicament injected therefrom to reduce the incidence of adverse cardiac conditions, such as ectopic beats, in the individual prior to the establishment of qualified direct contact personal care.

Claim 41

Apparatus for effecting pre-hospital phase treatment of a coronary prone individual prior to the establishment of qualified direct contact personal care at a time during the early minutes or hours after the onset of heart attack symptoms and for enabling qualified personnel to participate by telephone in such treatment comprising the combination of: a plurality of separate injectors suitable for self-administration under the disconcerting circumstances present during the aforesaid time, each including container means containing a liquid dosage of a different medicament and means for injecting said dosage into the tissue of the individual effecting the self-administration of the injector, each of which medicaments (a) when so injected is generally effective to reduce the incidence of adverse cardiac conditions, such as ectopic beats, when the existing heart beat condition is within a different predetermined portion of the total range of heart beat conditions which may exist during an attack, and (b) may be inadvisable or unwise to inject when such heart beat conditions are outside the predetermined portion of the total range in which the medicament is effective as aforesaid, and a diagnosing device including housing means for enabling the same to be easily and conveniently carried, a pair of separate electrode bodies, said electrode bodies having exterior surface means for enabling said bodies to be easily positioned in the armpits of an individual and to be conveniently and comfortably self-retained in such position solely by the individual by engagement betweEn the adjacent arm portions and torso in the armpit areas, an elongated flexible lead element extending between each electrode body and said housing means, electrical conductor means operable when said electrode bodies are positioned and retained in the armpits of an individual as aforesaid, for establishing an electrical circuit within said housing means which extends therefrom through said lead elements and through said electrode bodies to the exterior surface means thereof and between the latter through the torso of the individual through which the electric impulses within the torso of the individual which trigger the heart beats of the individual are reliably conducted from the torso to said housing means, and battery operated electric circuit signal producing means carried by said housing means operable in response to the conducting of said electrical impulses through the aforesaid electrical circuit by said electrical conductor means to said housing means to amplify said electrical impulses and substantially suppress other electrical signals, such as artifact and the like, which may be conducted in said circuit, and to reliably produce output signals representative of the electrical impulses of the heart of the individual, the container means of said injectors and the housing means of said diagnosing device enabling a coronary prone individual to retain said injectors and device in a position of access substantially at all times so that during a time within the early minutes or hours after the onset of heart attack symptoms experienced by the individual access to said device can be obtained enabling said electrode bodies to be disposed within the armpits of the individual and said signal producing means to produce signals utilizable to provide an indication that an identifiable injector when administered is effective by virtue of the medicament injected therefrom to reduce the incidence of adverse cardiac conditions, such as ectopic beats, in the individual prior to the establishment of qualified direct contact personal care.