Genetic testing gave this man an option of having a defibrillator based on family history, and wrote a book about it. After having seen his father drop dead and other genetic findings, he determined he should have the device. It has not been an easy road and he wrote a book about his experience, but would make the same decision again today.
It was a choice of either go with the device or have the potential of sudden death some day, so he chose the device. BD 
A simple blood test based on new gene science enabled him to discover that he carried the same gene defect that probably doomed his father and brother. The test result did not necessarily mean he would die young from a heart attack - some people with such mutations live to old age. But that genetic knowledge helped to persuade him, though he was in excellent health, to opt for a major intervention: a defibrillator implanted in his chest, to zap his heart back to normal rhythm if it stopped beating properly. Doctor after doctor "leaned a little forward in their chairs and said the words 'Sudden death' to me," Downing recalled. As in, his first symptom could be his own sudden death.
Genetic testing brings new hopes, hard choices - The Boston Globe
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