Can you use a defibrillator on someone with a pacemaker

It might not work: Cardioversion doesn’t always fix a fast or irregular heartbeat. You may need medicine or a pacemaker to control things. It might make things worse: It’s unlikely, but there’s a small chance that cardioversion could damage your heart or lead to more arrhythmias .15 Tem 2020

This can prevent your heart from pumping enough blood to the body. Some abnormal heart rhythms raise your risk of stroke. Some also raise the risk of life-threatening rhythms that can lead to sudden death. Cardioversion upsets the abnormal signaling and lets the heart to reset itself back into a normal rhythm .

If the underlying rhythm is atrial flutter, it is possible to overdrive the atrium and cardiovert it .