I think the general public would be surprised to learn that more than half of the people who have CPR outside a clinical setting, don’t make it.
OTOH, witnessed cardiac arrest caused by something other than a heart attack (most cases of spontaneous cardiac arrest like this are NOT heart attacks), where CPR is immediately available, has a much better chance of positive outcome than arrest from heart attack.
I see a lot of people say that Fabrice had a heart attack . A lay person equates heart attack with cardiac arrest. In the case of Fabrice it was cardiac arrest.
The only CPR I have see is on television programs and people teaching it using the Bee Gees Stayin Alive song.
The Office did a funny clip of CPR using the song.
To drop like that is considered a cardiac arrest. Not just a regular heart attack. Despite CPR, if there isn’t an AED available nearby, survival rate is usually only about 20%. Cardiac arrest is generally an electrical event, and an electric jolt is needed to shock the heart back into a rhythm.
“I think the general public would be surprised to learn that more than half of the people who have CPR outside a clinical setting, don’t make it.”
Mine was for 11 minutes, but in the back of ambulance with an AED attached. Two shocks to get me back in rhythm. The medics thought I was goner. Just to satisfy any curiosity, I survived.
When I was an EMT the saved rate was 2%. It’s a little better now with the new portable defibrillators.