And then he died in my arms...

[Warlawk]

Ok, so that's a very slight exaggeration.

Today I went to help my mom and a friend of the family move some furniture and other heavy things. We were mostly finished up and just moving odds and ends when the neighbor lady (whom they barely know) runs up to the house hammering on the door and starts yelling "Call 911! Call 911! Help me!" and then runs back to her house without saying anything about what's going on.

We started to quickly walk over to her house and she came running back out yelling about her husband getting shocked, and she was downstairs and help and and and... she was pretty hysterical and Pam (friend of the family) was on the phone to the 911 operator trying to relay what little information as we followed the lady into her house to find her husband on the floor slumped back against the couch very unconscious and unresponsive. Pam handed the phone off to my mom because she knows basic CPR, and I shoved furniture around and kind of wrestled the guy down onto his back and had to half carry him around a bit to open space to do it. He wasn't breathing and started turning purple just after we got him on his back. Pam gave him a couple rescue breaths while we tried to see if he had a pulse or was breathing and such, I'm there trying to be sure he stays situated and keep his wife a little under control as she has completely lost it and is grabbing everyone telling us to help.

Emergency personal arrived pretty quickly, within 3-4 minutes I think. Once they showed up we cleared out to give them space to work and everything. A few minutes later they had him loaded into the ambulance still doing CPR and took the wife/son along as well. Turns out they never got a pulse back and he was pronounced dead in transit.

Like I said, slight exaggeration since he didn't actually die in my arms. Still a very strange day though, just going about my business and end up with some guy I've never met dieing in my arms. I still don't know his name. Might go back in a week or two after things have had a short chance to settle just to offer my condolences.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, it was a heart attack and no shock was involved. His wife thought that because he had been working in the entertainment center and had a bunch of power cables unplugged in the living room when we found him.

[LaZodiac]

...you know, after all the crap you've gone through (from what I recall reading so longish ago) this is probably just the cherry on the big ol sundae, isn't it?

Regardless, I seriously hope I NEVER have to be in a situation like this. I can't handle death.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Death, for me, is just this thing, y'know? I think it has something to do with Jewish burial traditions. After you've spent so many long nights sitting up next to the body, all night long, you don't become afraid of death anymore. I've been a pall bearer 4 times now. 3 of those times I ended up filling up most of the grave, because I'm handy with a shovel.

It's just a part of life.

[Jack Squat]

Good job, it sounds like everyone did everything right. It sucks that he didn't make it, but CPR isn't really all that effective by itself.

IIRC, once the skin starts turning purple (via livor mortis), the person's already been dead for about half an hour - someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong; I'm an accounting major, not a forensic anthropology major - so he had already gone from "mostly dead" to "all dead" by the time you guys got to him.

[Warlawk]

...you know, after all the crap you've gone through (from what I recall reading so longish ago) this is probably just the cherry on the big ol sundae, isn't it?

Regardless, I seriously hope I NEVER have to be in a situation like this. I can't handle death.

Yeah, I was glad to see the end of 2011, couldn't take another year like that. I think when I posted to vent about it there were still a couple of blows yet to fall.

Being around someone dead doesn't specifically bother me. It was really that we were just going about our day and then suddenly with no warning whatsoever there we are in a strangers home while a man we've never met who's name we don't even know is dieing in our hands. It was just sudden, jarring and unexpected. My family has always been very prosaic about death and it's just another stage of things and accepted so there wasn't really a specific stigma there for me. Not sure if I want to go back and offer condolences or not. I feel really bad for the family and I was there at his passing but I just don't know if it would help or be worse if I dropped by since I don't know them at all.

[thubby]

that's basically how my gradfather went not that long ago.

death kinda sucks, but knowing you did what could be done is some comfort.

[Asta Kask]

I'm not worried by the dead but the undead freak me out big-time.

[Lycan 01]

Jeez man, that's horrible. At least you did everything you could, though. :smallsigh:

I've got kind of a "businesslike" approach to death. I've actually seen somebody die right in front of me, albeit in a "normal" manner rather a "horrific and or otherwise unexpected" fashion. Didn't bother me that much, for various reasons. Generally, I've just realized that its a natural part of existence, and eventually the Grim Reaper comes for us all. Some people just seem to realize that... or accept it.

With this acceptance, though, I also do my best to make sure I have no regrets. Specifically, I try to keep close relationships healthy and avoid silly arguments or conflicts, making sure people know how much they mean to me and stuff. No words left unspoken sorta thing just in case, y'know?

[Haruki-kun]

That doesn't sound like a very pleasing experience. Sorry to hear you had to go through it, man. :smallfrown: I don't think I could handle it well.

[super dark33]

I just started to volanteer in the local MDA station as a First Aid Giver. just finished the course so i can save any people i can.

A heart attack.. all you need is to find an automatic defibrulator, then follow its orders. the rest can be done by advanced equipment CPR.

[AtlanteanTroll]

All you need is to find an automatic defibrulator...

I'd hope someone who's just completed the training can spell defibrillator. Also, it's not like they're just laying around. This isn't Left 4 Dead. Of course, it's great when they are around.

[super dark33]

Bah. i can spell it in hebrew.
You can find them in a mall or a stedium.

[averagejoe]

I just started to volanteer in the local MDA station as a First Aid Giver. just finished the course so i can save any people i can.

A heart attack.. all you need is to find an automatic defibrulator, then follow its orders. the rest can be done by advanced equipment CPR.

While the instructions can help, one really should be familiar with their use before applying them. There's still a lot of things that can be done wrong, especially in the heat of the moment. Really anyone who has one should be trained to use it. (And that's "should" as in, "it's a good idea." I don't know how likely it is that people who own defibrillators are trained in their use.)

[Jack Squat]

Bah. i can spell it in hebrew.
You can find them in a mall or a stedium.

Right, but what are the chances of finding one in a timely manner when you're at home, a park, the side of the road, or a grocery store?

In training, they act like it's no big deal to get an AED, but the reality is that most people who receive CPR won't get hooked up to a defibrillator until the ambulance comes if they're lucky. Since there's still quite a few ambulances that don't carry one, it may be once they get to the hospital.

There's a solution to this; that as a first responder you could carry one with your normal first aid kit, but at ~$1500 US they don't come cheap.

[Icewalker]

Ambulances not carrying one? :smallconfused: I mean, I don't know what things are like in the field throughout the country, but the impression I got from my EMT training would be that any ambulance not carrying an AED is drastically underequipped, and in most if not all parts of the country illegally underequipped. And sometimes not having that kind of vital basic equipment is grounds for negligence if it turns out to be needed. (Of course, if it's a paramedic + EMT ambulance, they've probably just got a full larger manual defibrillator instead, which generally only paramedics use).


Good job, it sounds like everyone did everything right. It sucks that he didn't make it, but CPR isn't really all that effective by itself.

IIRC, once the skin starts turning purple (via livor mortis), the person's already been dead for about half an hour - someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong; I'm an accounting major, not a forensic anthropology major - so he had already gone from "mostly dead" to "all dead" by the time you guys got to him.

Totally true: CPR on its own pretty much never restarts the heart. It's a way to keep blood circulating, to make them less dead for longer so that things like defibrillators and heart drugs have a better chance of being successful.

Livor mortis is one of the definitive signs of death, yeah, but it can take a good while to set in, and it specifically marks the lower parts of the body, because it's the pooling of blood. I would expect his face turning purple was just lack of oxygen, which makes the face turn blue (or, I suppose, purple).

[Jack Squat]

Ambulances not carrying one? :smallconfused: I mean, I don't know what things are like in the field throughout the country, but the impression I got from my EMT training would be that any ambulance not carrying an AED is drastically underequipped, and in most if not all parts of the country illegally underequipped. And sometimes not having that kind of vital basic equipment is grounds for negligence if it turns out to be needed. (Of course, if it's a paramedic + EMT ambulance, they've probably just got a full larger manual defibrillator instead, which generally only paramedics use).

Yeah, looking it up, I was told wrong. BLS only has an AED, whereas ALS has the manual type. The guy that did my (first responder) training said that ALS were the ones with defibrillators - of course going off of his age, he probably got out before AEDs were common.

[Icewalker]

Ah okay, that makes sense. I was worried there for a minute, I've finished the training but have practically no field experience at the moment, so that was quite strange to hear. :smallbiggrin:

[Hattish Thing]

I'm sorry got your loss. :smallfrown: