Abstract: A medical information system. Data from electrodes are digitized and received by a microprocessor which causes them to be stored in a memory in accordance with a predetermined priority scheme. The data stored in the memory means can be read out to a monitor, a printer, or another computer for further processing.

Abstract: A defibrillator electrocardiogram (ECG) interpreter for indicating whether to treat a patient with a defibrillator. A sequence of digitized samples from a patient's ECG is periodically tested to identify asystole, noise, no-treat and treat conditions. A single result then is stored for each period. The treat result occurs when a patient is experiencing ventricular fibrillation or high rate ventricular tachycardia. The current result and up to two of the results corresponding to immediately previous ECG sample periods are then compared to derive a system output. In an automatic defibrillator embodiment, the system output causes defibrillation automatically for a treat output. In a semiautomatic defibrillator embodiment, the system output causes a message to be presented to an operator. The operator then makes the decision whether to defibrillate based upon the system output.