Yeah... I'm surprised there wasn't a divert to the first city with an airliner-capable airport and a hospital regardless of whether it was while coming or going. Any hospital can handle a cardiac arrest, whether CPR is in progress or a pulse was been re-established.
Regarding the medical kit on airliners, I've seen the insides of those kits and it's true they contain most of the same cardiac arrest meds as found in a hospital crash cart. One thing I do wish they contained were pulse oximeters (which cost only $25 at a Walgreens). I also wish the defibrillator was of the semi-automatic type.
The defibrillators on airliners are AED (automated external defibrillator) type. A semi-automatic defibrillator has a selector switch (often as a key-controlled type) to make the AED into a hospital-type manual defibrillator with an EKG monitor and another selector switch to change the amount of energy to be delivered per shock. Without turning the key switch, a semi-automatic defibrillator functions like an AED.
I was called to action as a nurse on a trip from ORD to LHR in 2005. As stated, I learned those med kits have almost everything a medical professional needs. In my case, the patient was having a panic attack. After a few minutes of talking to a doctor on the ground, I was able to get the patient's condition under control with a little Valium.
Commercial aircraft flown in: B712 B722 B732 B734 B737 B738 B741 B742 B744 B752 B753 B762 B772 A310 A318 A319 A320 A321 DC91 DC93 DC94 DC1030 DC1040 F100 MD82 MD83 A223 CR2 CR7 E175