Women are less likely to receive CPR in public than men: Study
When a medical emergency happened in a public place, just 61% of women received the help they needed, compared with 68% of men.
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This Radiolab Episode always comes to my mind when people bring up CPR in any context. Apparently doctors overwhelmingly don't wish to be resuscitated for a good reason...
It's critical to point out the primary scenario associated with the survey and chart data in that article.
"Given the scenario of irreversable brain injury".
That changes everything.
Oh definitely. 10 minutes max to administer CPR before death is pretty much certain. IIRC, after 3 minutes chances of brain damage rise to 80%.
Not to mention the 30% chance of painful broken ribs, but hey at least you're alive with probably a hefty hospital bill, at least in the states.
I suppose that an addendum should be added to do not resuscitate tags. Do not resuscitate after specified time span. Or something like that.
Do not resuscitate tags are not something i'm trained at reading. If I see them and do CPR anyway I am protected by my states good Samaritan laws. If I see them and do nothing I could be in legal trouble! (Not anymore, but I uses to be on an emergency response team and then I was legally required to get involved). Even paramedics are trained to ignore those tags, once the patient is in the hospital there are procedures to verify if they are valid (as opposed to a murderer planting them I guess)
Ultimately I'm more in favor of the default response and laws around the subject being what they are. I just question these norms sometimes because I also strongly believe in the right to die.
This quickly becomes complicated given the contexts of the tragic experiences of those that survive life saving procedures like CPR with a significantly diminished quality of life due to permanent brain damage and other incurred disabilities. At what point does a person who wanted to live given full abilities of their mind and body comes to prefer to die when they no longer possess said cognitive/bodily functions? I honestly wonder.
Not something anyone who is watching somebody fall to the floor and stop breathing can take the time to contemplate, obviously. But the thought still gives me pause.
One of my biggest fears, bigger than dying even, is being "forced" to live when my mental faculties are far gone due to irreparable brain damage. And I wonder if it'd be less emotionally traumatic for my loved ones to have to see me like that than if someone trying to save my life had simply called the efforts no longer worth it after a (hopefully) thoughtful assessment.
I just honestly don't know, and the thoughts around it do occassionally haunt me when I contemplate my own inevitable demise.