Are you concerned about falling down dead because of a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)? Are you wondering who will be there to "save" you if that should happen? Will it be a passer-by, fellow shopper, diner at the next table? In other words, will it be a BYSTANDER?
The America Heart Association and other large "Heart Groups", talk a lot about "bystander" participation in emergency rescue situations. Lately, "Bystander CPR" has become a popular term for someone who happens to be there if you have an SCA, and performs "hands only" CPR on you. If there is an automatic external defibrillator (AED) handy, the bystander may allow that machine to shock your heart after it has stopped beating - thus saving your life in some cases.
If someone called 911, then the emergency rescue team will arrive and take over your emergency care. Most likely, they will have, and use, the defibrillator. Without it, your heart would probably quit beating forever.
But with your heart beating again, and your lungs breathing, you are taken to the hospital from where you may recover and return to normal life.
And that's a good thing, right? I say, "Right, Dr. Lundberg?"
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Columns/At-Large/33114
If you just read the short rant by Dr. George Lundberg, you know that some people in high places are seemingly against any bystander helping you if you have an SCA! Since it takes 3-5 minutes for the quickest ambulance to leave the firehouse, and then more minutes to reach your lifeless body, the bystander is probably your best hope! And Dr. Lungberg, former Editor-in-Chief of the American Medical Society's journal (JAMA), says the bystander should NOT help you, except by calling 911?
Well, this is causing quite a stir on some websites, such as www.Inspire.com, and my own Facebook group, "Surviving Cardiac Arrest". It has reached all the way to Spain, Netherlands, and the U.K.
Survivors of cardiac arrest, or their caregivers, are really angered by Dr. Lundberg's remarks. So am I.
I am one of the SCA victims described by Dr. Lundberg as hopeless. Yet, here I am - four years after a vicious SCA - still alive to write about this physician's callous remarks. And I have many friends - SCA survivors and caregivers - who are expressing outrage of their own.
So, why does a prominent and respected physician say that bystander CPR should not be used? I can only guess at the reason, or reasons:
1: He is actually being sincere, and there is nothing more to his remarks than what is stated in the article.
2: He, along with others, wants to stop, or regulate, bystander intervention - something that he considers to be "Practicing Medicine Without A License".
3: Ribs are worth money. So are other body parts, like hearts, lungs, livers, stomachs, arteries and veins, etc. There can be damage to a body by a bystander who "plays Doctor", or tries to be a "Hero". Perhaps this doctor, and others, are simply interested in the undamaged organs, and body parts, of anyone who dies from an SCA. A Dr. Frankenstein type of thing. Would the fatality be renamed "SOD", or "Sudden Organ Donor", as I would call it?
4: Maybe the huge, physician-guided organizations such as the American Heart Association, Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, etc, are trying to increase their membership roles and increase donations, by stirring up the emotions and passions of potential members.
But shhh..... this would be a secret.
Those are my four guesses. I don't care much if it's number 1. I don't like the other three.
Since there are already many instances of families being told that their loved ones have no chance of survival following the SCA (me, for ex), or that they face a low quality life of with a damaged brain (me, for ex), and euthanasia is the best choice, then maybe it's time to start building a memorial for Sudden Cardiac Arrest victims - something similar to the U.S. Holocaust Museum Memorial in Washington, D.C. (USHMM)
I took the following quotation from that museum's website. You have probably heard it before, by Martin Niemoller, a German-Protestant Christian Pastor:
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me."
It's something to think about...
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