A cardiac therapy device having a cardiac assist pump, a defibrillation unit, and a control unit, which is connected to the cardiac assist pump and the defibrillation unit to control them. The cardiac assist pump is implemented in case of use to pump blood from a ventricle into an associated artery and thus relieve the respective ventricle. The defibrillation unit is implemented for automatic defibrillation of a ventricular fibrillation and the control unit is implemented to activate the cardiac assist pump and the defibrillation unit in a coordinated manner in case of a ventricular fibrillation such that the cardiac assist pump first increases its performance to initially cause a pressure relief of at least one assisted ventricle in case of use and the defibrillation unit only subsequently delivers a defibrillation shock, when a ventricular pressure relief is provided.
