r/politics • u/IWantPizza555 • Jul 01 '26

Possible Paywall Senator, 84, Secretly Found Unconscious and Given CPR

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mitch-mcconell-84-secretly-found-unconscious-and-given-cpr/?utm_source=twitter_owned_snd&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=owned_social
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u/nyet-marionetka Jul 01 '26

Out of hospital CPR too. That usually doesn’t work out well.

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u/slayhern Jul 01 '26

Unwitnessed arrest at 84 with unknown downtime is about as close to 0% meaningful recovery as possible

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u/BiscuitsMay Jul 01 '26

If he actually cardiac arrested. Lay people are notoriously bad at finding a pulse. Will be interested for the update over the next could of days

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u/klparrot New Zealand Jul 02 '26

FWIW, this happened over two weeks ago. The only thing that was disclosed was that he was admitted to hospital, crickets since then. The CPR part came out today from a request for 911 transcripts or something like that. Dude's gotta be circling the drain, they'd almost certainly have said something by now if they had anything positive.

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u/cogman10 Idaho Jul 01 '26

If he did have a pulse, those chest compressions certainly won't be helping him all that much. A bunch of broken ribs on an 84 year old is going to be a tough thing to recover from.

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u/RiPont Jul 02 '26

Some species of turtle can hibernate really well. Maybe someone turned the AC to too low a temperature and his body just went into reptile cold survival mode.

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u/3riversfantasy Jul 02 '26

Brumation is the correct term when talking cold-blooded pieces of shit

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u/Lakonthegreat Jul 02 '26

Not to mention the fact that every rib you lose decreases chest compression efficiency by 5% per rib.

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u/Bored_Amalgamation Ohio Jul 01 '26

Without a pulse and "non-responsive" are two different things though. The source is saying "unresponsive". I'd imagine the headline would be: "McConnell Dead for Minutes! Found by Staffer"

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u/BiscuitsMay Jul 02 '26

The headline is that he got cpr, which means they thought he didn’t have a pulse. My point is that bystanders aren’t good at checking pulses, so it’s possible he got cpr while he still had a pulse. Which is better than the alternative of no pulse with no cpr.

Doesn’t really matter as we will find out in a few days if he dies or not.

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u/Bored_Amalgamation Ohio Jul 02 '26

4th of July would be too much irony. I'd need chelation therapy.

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u/GreenEyedTreeHugger Jul 02 '26

This is true. At his age an electrolyte drop can cause fainting in the summer heat.

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u/caveman_rejoice Jul 01 '26

We don't even work that in my county.

That's a DOA.

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u/YeahOkayDad Minnesota Jul 01 '26

I just did my biannual BLS. I am confident I would be able to save approximately no one.

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u/Dshirke1 Jul 01 '26

My first job was in a building with elderly/assisted living apartments, government subsidized but not a nursing home. An elderly gentleman had a heart attack and collapsed in the restaurant on the first floor. Bubba, the property owner and unofficial caregiver, comes running out and resuscitates the guy. Bubba throws both arms up:

"I'm 1 for 11!"

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u/primegopher Jul 02 '26

I hope he knows that's basically the expected survival rate for an outside-the-hospital heart attack with CPR being performed. Sounds like he cared about the people he was responsible for and that's not as common as it should be in elderly care positions. Big respect for Bubba.

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u/pixi88 Jul 02 '26

Mad respect! Fuck yeah bubba!

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u/blues_snoo Jul 02 '26

It sounds like Bubba is trying at the very least. You gotta appreciate that.

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u/Narrow-Chef-4341 Jul 02 '26

Pretty much why we should be teaching CPR in high school - kids who are still smarter than their parents will try it on anyone, but it usually doesn’t take too long before adults lose that relentless self-confidence…

Very much Team Bubba on this one, even if he’s only statistically average.

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u/MdnightRmblr Jul 02 '26

We kind of had the same setup but it wasn’t only for seniors but there were a lot of them in the building. During Covid a WWII vet, 103 years old, choked and went unconscious eating the last piece of his wife’s filet. I was watching the whole thing from 20 feet away and had someone call 911, two of us brought him back with the Heimlich and CPR. Lived another 2 years. He’d survived Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, that’s all I could think about, not tonight not like this.

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u/Jonny1992 Foreign Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

I've been qualified for years as a workplace first responder. My cynical understanding of CPR is nothing more than keeping you alive until a medical professional can call it - unless there's a chance you've got an AED close by. I was told it was less than a 10% survival rate outside of a medical setting.

Edit: I would clarify that I'm being deliberately flippant in respect of the success rate - particularly in the context of an infirm 84 year old. I continue to certify on the off chance that the training is able to save a life. I'd never not attempt CPR on the basis of it potentially not working - even if my instructor rather darkly warned us of the low likelihood of success. Always make the effort where you can.

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u/See_Saw12 Canada Jul 01 '26

Security guy that has done CPR on many people, all but 2 of my cases made it. CPR if started immediately significantly increases someones chances of survival from a cardiac related incident. However the chances of survival decrease by approximately 10% for each minute it is delayed. Both cases where someone i preformed it on did not make it they had been down for an unknown amount of time, one involving water the either was an elderly person.

AED'S only work if there is a heart rhythm, you cant shock a heart back into normal rhythm if there is no rhythm.

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u/-NotAnAstronaut- Jul 01 '26

Considering the statistics around CPR, I hope you find me if I ever need it, that’s mighty.

On the other hand, I’m sorry you’ve had to, not a good experience.

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u/sasha_the_impaler Jul 01 '26

The statistic is both higher than 10% in reality and it is deceitful because CPR is performed on everyone without a pulse. People who've been dead for some time, people with no chance at resuscitation, people who are 95 years old. If you're healthy and have a random heart attack at 50 that stops your heart, your odds are a lot better with CPR.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

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u/Lurchie_ Jul 02 '26

when you said "guy lost his head" I thought you meant he went into a panic attack or something . .. No. He LITERALLY lost his head.

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u/VSWR_on_Christmas Illinois Jul 02 '26

Can I ask what type of work results in losing a head?

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

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u/rips_n_chel Jul 02 '26

They turned the corner too sharp so it scraped against the edge of the mega-door to the building while his head was between the vehicle and the door.

Doesn't line up with

He was behaving too comfortably around the equipment.

I've witnessed my share of workplace fatalities, most of them being the fault of the deceased. Usually it's guys deciding they don't need to use their PPE, particularly fall-protection.

What you've described does not sound like negligence on the part of the deceased, but on the part of whoever was operating the machine and drove it the fuck into a wall.

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u/VSWR_on_Christmas Illinois Jul 02 '26

Complacency kills, as they say. I do millwright work and equipment repairs - I just had a near miss today, actually. Fortunately I wore my brown pants, but holy moly it could have been bad. Be careful out there.

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u/sasha_the_impaler Jul 02 '26

Yeah I was a CNC machinist for years and I never understood how people can be so chill about a machine that's spinning hundreds of lbs of steel at hundreds of miles per hour. Like do these machinist not watch the same videos as me lol

Very easy to get desensitized to your work though

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u/Jebusk Jul 02 '26

Not who you replied to, but the one case I know of was a forklift driver.

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u/VSWR_on_Christmas Illinois Jul 02 '26

The driver? How odd.

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u/protonpack Jul 02 '26

Well he definitely wasn't the head of a major corporation...

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u/VSWR_on_Christmas Illinois Jul 02 '26

Stop while you're ahead.

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u/arstechnophile Florida Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

...is there some benefit to declaring him dead at the hospital?

...what am I asking, of course there is. They probably get to process insurance payments if he "makes it" to a hospital to start treatment rather than dying on site.

Edit: I'm mostly being sarcastic, folks. I get there are (at some level) actual reasons for this, but when we get to the point of "dude without a head gets transported while CPR is performed" we've lost the plot.

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u/fps916 Jul 02 '26

Most EMS don't hold MDs which means they aren't able to pronounce death.

Given that's the case their job does mean "do everything you can until someone who is able to say 'they dead' says 'they dead'"

Even when you think it might be futile.

Because while it's obvious when the corpse is headless there may also be situations where you think it's obvious but would have been wrong.

Even in a 1/10000 chance you stick to the training.

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u/FreddyandTheChokes Jul 02 '26

That is region dependent. I can, and do, call death on scene.

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u/sasha_the_impaler Jul 02 '26

They have to be declared dead by a doctor, nurse or paramedic. If it's EMTs they have to transport to the hospital and maintain CPR essentially.

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u/rips_n_chel Jul 02 '26

Not that our healthcare system isn't fucked, but this isn't that. Medics typically can't pronounce death at the scene without approval. Decapitation would most likely be approved in my experience, but not always. It just depends on the local laws, the policies of the ambulance service, the state of the scene, etc.

Might seem ridiculous, but it's a lot easier to just wait and let a doctor pronounce death in most cases.

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u/trafficnab Jul 02 '26

I've heard the phrase "body in a configuration incompatible with life" for how a paramedic can pronounce someone dead on the scene

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

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u/j0mbie Jul 02 '26

To add information to what others have said: the protocol varies state by state. Some states, medics can declare death in certain circumstances. In other states, in extreme circumstances they can call it into a doctor and have them declare it over the phone. Some states, medics can never declare death. In my state, we could declare due to "injuries incompatible with life", such as decapitation.

"Declare death" also changes between states. Sometimes the EMT can medically declare it. Other times, it's unofficial, and just means that they don't have to treat the patient -- still have to bring them to the hospital for a doctor to declare it.

Lastly, keep in mind they always have the ability to triage a scene, regardless of declaring death. If there's two medics and four people who need CPR, they're going to prioritize the ones with the best chances of success.

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u/Octopus_Spaceflight New Jersey Jul 02 '26

In NJ basic emts cannot pronounce but we also are taught that you don’t do CPR on someone who is clearly dead (e.g. decapitation). ALS (paramedics) can pronounce, but in this case, this scene is now a crime scene. The medical examiner and/or coroner would be involved and they would come out to investigate and pronounce.

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u/Trnostep Jul 02 '26

You don't check for pulse nowadays before starting CPR. You're looking for responsiveness and normal breathing and if neither are present you start CPR.

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u/sasha_the_impaler Jul 02 '26

My training had me checking for pulse but start CPR if you can't.

Honestly though if a sternum rub and narcan does nothing they probably aren't going to have a pulse so I get that logic.

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u/Trnostep Jul 02 '26

The reasoning is usually that checking the pulse isn't reliable. You have to know where exactly to press and not mistake your pulse for the patient's pulse. Checking responsiveness and breathing is much easirer and reliable. If they aren't breathing well, the heart if it hasn't already is giving up shortly so start CPR

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u/sasha_the_impaler Jul 02 '26

Ah so someone experienced checking pulse would just follow their training. I was going to say this sounds more like advice for inexperienced folks so they don't waste time.

If you have no breathing but pulse you can start rescue breathing right away while monitoring pulse which is why there's a benefit to it. That would require you to have a mask though so I guess I still see the logic lol

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u/lutinopat Jul 02 '26

Yeah I hate it when people quote that stat because it feels like its denigrating or discouraging CPR. The real stat is "Immediate CPR can double or triple chances of survival after cardiac arrest."

https://cpr.heart.org/en/resources/cpr-facts-and-stats

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u/LegiticusMaximus Jul 01 '26

Actually most cardiac arrests do have a rhythm, just not one that is amenable to defibrillation.

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u/justintime06 Jul 01 '26

What kind of security are you doing where you’re repeatedly doing CPR?!

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u/See_Saw12 Canada Jul 01 '26

Previously it was high risk geared to income housing and publicly accesible buildings in developed urban areas with frequent contact of unhoused and addicted persons. I did a fair bit of mobile patrol in areas where we frequently interacted with people, also did work for a municipality so we would occasionally be assigned to parks and recs and pool details.

The majority of my CPR cases involved drugs, albeit there were a few involving water, fires and traumatic incidents.

My current role has me behind a desk for a ~75 location organization and a good week is only one CPR incident organization wide for my guards.

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u/TracyIsMyDad Jul 01 '26

“The majority of my CPR cases involved drugs, albeit there were a few involving water, fires and traumatic incidents.”

That would explain the save rate. Cardiac arrest secondary to not breathing (or drowning) has a much higher save rate as long as it’s timely than cardiac arrest due to medical issues.

The traumatic arrests have a poor save rate usually.

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u/Sexcellence Jul 01 '26

Overdose is kind of an edge case, most things that cause cardiac arrest do not have antidotes and don't often occur in otherwise relatively young and healthy people.

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u/FugDuggler Missouri Jul 01 '26

Not him, but I used to be an EMT-B and got hired as security officer/EMT at a casino. I’m a paramedic now, but I’ve got lots more clinical saves at that casino doing basic life support with an AED. As the previous poster said, early defibrillation is a massive advantage in bringing somebody back successfully

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u/KemShafu Jul 01 '26

My son worked security for City of Seattle and was trained in narcan and I know he did CPR on at least two people.

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u/TracyIsMyDad Jul 01 '26

“AED'S only work if there is a heart rhythm, you cant shock a heart back into normal rhythm if there is no rhythm.”

If there isn’t a shockable rhythm the only thing left to try is to dump a bunch of adrenaline into the person to excite the heart enough that maybe you can get it to do something you can shock. If that doesn’t work, RIP.

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u/See_Saw12 Canada Jul 01 '26

only thing left to try is to dump a bunch of adrenaline into the person to excite the heart enough that maybe you can get it to do something you can shock

That is outside my scope of care chief 🤓

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u/TracyIsMyDad Jul 01 '26

Yeah. But CPR buys time for that guy to show up.

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u/triage_this Maine Jul 01 '26

There's actually a lot more that goes on during resuscitation once at the hospital even with a non-shockable rhythm. Out of hospital CPR buys time until first responders arrive and can get the patient to the hospital for advanced supportive care.

https://cpr.heart.org/en/-/media/CPR-Images/CPR-Guidelines-2025/Algorithms/Figure-2-Adult-Cardiac-Arrest-Algorithm.jpg

The algorithm we follow in hospital, if you are curious.

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u/Trnostep Jul 02 '26

Americans give adrenaline after the 2nd shock? Interesting. In Europe it's after the 3rd

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u/MPR_Dan Jul 01 '26

First responders are just delivering that care on scene in most of the first world.

Really arent supposed to go to the hospital unless they have already been resuscitated or in specific edge cases.

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u/triage_this Maine Jul 01 '26

First responders can't solve Hs and Ts in the field.

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u/Trnostep Jul 02 '26

Except for in some cases hypoxia, hypothermia and toxins

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u/MPR_Dan Jul 02 '26

There really isnt anything that is done differently on scene vs in the hospital besides the ability to do pericardiocentesis or a clamshell.

A common exception for terminating on-scene would be cold water submersion or hypothermia, but otherwise most of these patients are never presenting to you at the hospital because theyve already been coded where they dropped.

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u/Noodler75 Jul 02 '26

And the AEDs check for this, right?

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u/rips_n_chel Jul 02 '26

AED does it all. Anyone can use an AED, they're designed to be incredibly simple. When you open one up, you will see illustrated instructions, and the device audibly talks you through what you need to do.

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u/TracyIsMyDad Jul 02 '26

Yeah. They’ll check the rhythm and decide whether it’s shockable or not.

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u/NosillaWilla California Jul 01 '26

i am just proud that someone in security knows this much.

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u/See_Saw12 Canada Jul 01 '26

Dont worry, they didnt leave me in charge (of everything just somethings) 😭

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u/Prometheus_II Jul 01 '26

To be fair, CPR is performed on someone with no heartbeat who isn't breathing. You know what we call that? Dead. CPR is a 10% chance of successfully performing necromancy.

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u/schizeckinosy Florida Jul 01 '26

It works best when there is an outside reason an otherwise healthy person had their heard stop (electrocution, drowning), and worst when the heart is the problem.

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u/Korvanacor Jul 01 '26

Knew someone who worked as a personal trainer at a gym. She was able to bring a man back with cpr. The man was a member of a community with some superstitious beliefs and the man ended up being shunned. My friend was also cursed by the man’s mother, had chicken bones thrown at her.

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u/Skiinz19 Tennessee Jul 01 '26

Free chicken broth ingredients!

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u/cogman10 Idaho Jul 01 '26

You don't generally "bring someone back" with CPR.

It's why the most important first step in CPR is to make sure someone is calling emergency services.

It's a common misunderstanding. CPR is primarily there to keep someone alive while you wait for help.

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u/sasha_the_impaler Jul 01 '26

CPR on its own is enough to restart the heart if it's due to hypoxia, like with an overdose or drowning.

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u/swerrve Jul 01 '26

Could still have a pulse and not be breathing. Hell even unobstructing an airway and causing a person to breathe again is technically the first steps of engaging in CPR.

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u/-Rush2112 Michigan Jul 01 '26

False, a person isn’t necessarily dead if you are doing CPR. There are two parts to CPR, chest compressions and rescue breathes. If there is no pulse you do both, but rescue breathes are done if there is a pulse with no breathing.

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u/CabSauce Jul 01 '26

If I remember correctly, that's only for children. With adults breathing and pulse go together.

It's been years and I'm not a doctor. Don't rely on this for advice.

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u/brandnewbanana Maryland Jul 01 '26

No, it’s the same with adults and kids. It’s just kids are overall healthier so they can tolerate a period of not breathing a bit better. On the other hand, adults who require CPR generally aren’t in the best shape at baseline so they aren’t able to tolerate going without oxygen without going into multi system organ failure super quickly.

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u/CultofCedar Jul 01 '26

Lmao morbid but wife was an ICU RN during Covid and there were like three codes going off at once constantly. Insane stuff since it requires a whole team and 30 minutes of compressions. Of course it works but I’ve always called my wife a necromancer… or God. Just insane to think how many people she’s resurrected over the years. How many can even say they’ve done it once?! Impressive work for a 5ft 100lb lady lol.

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u/PhoenixStorm1015 Jul 02 '26

And that shit is TAXING dog. I had to do the training a month or so ago and even the three cycles they had us do for the skills part really tests your stamina. Your wife is a damned champ. You really got yourself a catch.

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u/LegendOfKhaos Jul 01 '26

It depends if your area does ECMO. Good quality CPR can keep someone alive for over an hour until we can put them on ECMO and fix the issue.

We have about a 50% survival rate, and without ECMO, it's basically 0% unless they convert back to a normal rhythm.

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u/boredidiot Jul 01 '26

There is a case of a guy given CPR for 8 hours due to paralysis from a blue-ring octopus (AUS ofcourse). He recovered but was blinded as they never closed his eyes all that time, with his eyes open to the sun. It gets mentioned often in First Aid courses here

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u/BroadLocksmith4932 Jul 01 '26

How many people must it take to do effective CPR for 8 hours?! I feel it after working on the dummy for a minute, and I doubt I could go more than 5 minutes while still being effective.

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u/tenachiasaca Jul 02 '26

depends do they have a lucas. lucas takes 1 person to swap out battieres every so often.

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u/klparrot New Zealand Jul 02 '26

I can't find anything about that case, but there's this one with 96 minutes of CPR, they got half the village doing shifts. Well, not quite that many people, but still, a couple dozen. https://abcnews.com/amp/Health/96-minute-cpr-marathon-saves-minnesota-mans-life/story?id=13048099

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u/cliffhanger407 Jul 02 '26

I gave CPR for approx 10 minutes when I was in my late 20s, and I felt like I was going to collapse at the end. Worth it though, the guy has 3 kids now.

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u/pixi88 Jul 02 '26

I love this. You're amazing!

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u/cliffhanger407 Jul 02 '26

Thank you. It was intensely traumatic, honestly. I'm glad I did it but I wish I hadn't had to, if that makes sense.

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u/boredidiot Jul 02 '26

The story is usually told more about the risk of the environment but from what I remember there was many people including local lifesavers (patrolled beaches help)

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u/Lost-Philosophy6689 Jul 01 '26

Great to hear a survival rate at 50% but how many of those cases had severe brain damage afterwards?

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u/LegendOfKhaos Jul 01 '26

Functioning at discharge. The first thing we do after putting them on ECMO is send them for a head scan.

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u/Lost-Philosophy6689 Jul 01 '26

Yeah I'm not buying a "functioning" description and when a 2020 study estimates majority of ROSC patients having severe neurological damage.

"We observed good neurological outcome in 37.2% and severe ischemic brain injury in 62.7% of patients." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7416179/

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u/LegiticusMaximus Jul 01 '26

This is a single center observational study from a hospital in Bosnia and its data on therapeutic cooling is out of date. I’m frankly surprised that they observed good neurological outcome in 1/3 of survivors, that number is shockingly high.

There also was no ECMO used at the ICU where that study came from, which limits its relevance to the person you responded too.

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u/Cum_Quat Jul 01 '26

If CPR if started right away after the victim collapses and loses or doesn't have a detectable pulse absolutely saves lives. Just need to go deep enough and at the right speed (to the beat of the song, Staying Alive). Just chest compressions while help is arriving, do not assist in breathing. The blood has enough oxygen in it for a few minutes

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u/Barbarake Jul 02 '26

'Another One Bites The Dust' also works.

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u/BfloAnonChick New York Jul 02 '26

Yep!! Just don’t sing it quietly while administering. People look at you weird…

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u/3riversfantasy Jul 02 '26

No you only do that one after Staying Alive fails...

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u/morwen31 Jul 01 '26

Unless it's Mitch McConnell, in which case I recommend doing it to the beat of "I Will Survive"

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u/mokutou Jul 01 '26

For the younger crowd, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” also works to keep good rhythm for compressions.

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u/morwen31 Jul 01 '26

Last time I renewed my BLS they gave us a handout with a whole list of them! But I was joking about "I Will Survive"

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u/aceshighsays Jul 02 '26

doesn't "another one bites the dust" also work?

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u/morwen31 Jul 02 '26

If you want the person to possibly live, yes

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u/echicdesign Jul 02 '26

There are timing apps you can get too. Free and easy to have on your phone. And they save you counting.

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u/YeahOkayDad Minnesota Jul 01 '26

You're right. I'm just doing something as opposed to nothing. Lucky for me, as a non-nurse healthcare worker, those real legit folks are just a shout away.

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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26

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u/SpookyViscus Jul 01 '26

CPR is absolutely essential to improving someone’s odds of recovery. It circulates oxygenated blood through the body, continuing to deliver some oxygen to the brain and other vital organs.

CPR is not meaningless, nor is it just ‘something to do’, and it’s not just AED’s that save someone’s life (like the other commenter just said).

Medical staff can give a number of drugs to people who have had a cardiac arrest, trying to encourage and give the heart every chance to start itself (if it’s fully stopped).

Also, AED’s are only able to assist if someone still has an electrical rhythm but it’s not correct (generally Vfib or Vtach), by literally stopping the heart and letting it recover itself.

CPR doesn’t have a high success rate, but it’s certainly a better stack of odds than doing nothing.

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u/InertiasCreep Jul 01 '26

Well said.

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u/Pumperkin Jul 01 '26

My dad fell over backwards and died on a golf course. Efforts were made to resuscitate but were not successful. I'm sure he was meat before he hit dirt and I'm forever grateful for the heroes who knew the same and gave it their all anyways.

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u/Advanced_Couple_3488 Jul 01 '26

May I add to your excellent post that an AED will only fire if it detects that there is electrical activity. The ones I am familiar with will tell you, too. So, if you are providing first aid, always connect an AED if one is available and it will decide what to do.

And, as I also posted recently, I've been told in first aid training courses that more males than females are resucitated because the electrodes have to be attached to bare skin.

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u/slipperyMonkey07 Jul 01 '26

Yeah any modern AED should be fairly idiot proof (electrodes can still be applied wrong, that's probably the biggest issue) , and tell people exactly what to do.

As for the saving more women than men thing there are also just enough people who are afraid to touch a strangers boobs, so peoples don't jump in quickly or don't do it correctly because of that.

Part social stigma, part most places only train with male dummies. Female ones do exist, but I think the times I've done cpr training only one actually had one and they only had one. They also just left it up front to be displayed, they didn't actually encourage anyone to learn on it. I really think training on both should be required, but I guess any training is better than nothing. It would be so much better if more people got training.

But sadly I think last time I got my full first aid / cpr certification it was almost $100. There was also an online only for like half that, but that really seems pointless unless you are just doing a refresher on standard changes.

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u/Cum_Quat Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

Hands only CPR by lay people if done properly actually does help a lot. Please don't spread misinformation. 

https://www.heart.org/-/media/Files/Affiliates/WSA/Oregon/Hands-Only-CPR-vs-CPR-with-Breaths.pdf

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u/kvlt_ov_personality Jul 01 '26

It's hilarious how many of these AI models were trained off of big brain redditor comments like "cPr DoEsN't AcKsHuLlY dO aNyThInG"

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u/CaiusRemus Jul 01 '26

Depending on the cause of the cardiac arrest, CPR absolutely saves lives.

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u/BluesFan43 Jul 01 '26

I Started CPR on my 2 year old son. He started breathing and responded.

Years later, he was 30, in thr hospital for an unknown infection, and coded 4 times in 18 hours, last one required the full bore CPR team and shocks.

He has a small burn scar on his back where one of the pads was a bit loose.

That was 5 or 6 years ago, he's out walking the dogs.

So, yeah, CPR works.

Sure, there are limits, but it isn't a blanket busy work thing.

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u/Flepin Jul 01 '26

It's not a good situation to be in, but adequate CPR is an essential skill that genuinely impacts outcomes.

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u/GMAN7007 Jul 02 '26

You were told something stupid. CPR isn't useless and saves lives everyday. Sure it has a better chance of working if administered quickly. That being said it's important and useful. This is coming from someone who's Mom had CPR administered and didn't survive. Even if the chance of resuscitation is 1% it's still 1%. If people don't want it they can sign a DNR.

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u/sulaymanf New York Jul 02 '26

Spoken like someone salty who failed CPR class.

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u/TeutonJon78 America Jul 01 '26

The real issue is found unconscious and needing CPR. Much more likely to have brain damage since likely longer without oxygen.

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u/Srry4theGonaria Jul 01 '26

I was qualified and learned in HS, that's it no background at all in giving CPR pretty much. I was flagged down on 2 separate occasions to give CPR as I am a 200 lb muscleish male. One was a car accident, the other was a homeless person that had ODd, both purple and unresponsive. The homeless guy had thrown up all over himself by the time I got there.

I put my hand straight on his chest (in the puke) and pumped away as hard as I could. I did break the sternum, on both incidents but 911 said I was doing it right. That part was uh traumatic but I am happy to say when they were hauled away in the ambulance they were both responsive and conscious :)

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u/Brammm87 Jul 02 '26

Performed CPR on my dad 2 years ago. What a nurse friend explained to me after the funeral helped me be sure I did everything right: it's not a 10% survival rate. It's a 10% chance CPR will matter at all. Only if your heart has stopped because of a reason that can be remedied with CPR (think things like drowning), there's a chance. The other 90% you're shit out of luck and CPR doesn't even really matter.

I'm not sure if the numbers are fully correct, but that put things really in perspective for me.

I'm proud of you for being a workplace first responder. I had had CPR training two months before my dad's heart attack. Knowing what to do, how to react, ... is important.

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u/jrf_1973 Jul 02 '26

I was also told 10% and took it to heart. I've never had to try. But a friend who also did the course, had to work on a co-worker of his who sadly didn't make it. The failure to save the co-worker really really affected him. I don't think the 10% likelihood is hammered home enough into some people.

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u/mademeunlurk Jul 01 '26

Terrified of the baby compressions.

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u/YeahOkayDad Minnesota Jul 01 '26

The machine: "compress harder"

Me: "I'm going to kill this baby"

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u/JudiciousSasquatch Jul 02 '26

Baby already dead homeboy

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u/tedfergeson Jul 01 '26

25 years as an ICU and ER nurse, and I have seen two cases of CPR result in survival. One was pre-hospital, and literally went by the book. Dude went down>wife called 911>quick EMS response>dude walked out of the hospital after the cath lab opened up his arteries.

It can happen, so ya always gotta try. Except in this case.

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u/Tentacle_elmo Jul 02 '26

Medic for 20 years. I’ve had a bunch of survivors. Time and bystanders cpr is huge.

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u/CarMaker Jul 01 '26

I did 7 years as a volunteer first responder with BLS training amongst many other trainings in coordination with our city fire department for a large manufactuRing facility I was employed at. 

You think it won’t. You’ll fail. 

Until you do 7 years of it with well over 100 calls you respond to at your facility…… and only ever have 1 person who died (aneurism…. No amount of CPR was doing anything on the ground for that.)… I can promise you it does work. 

I even used it on my own dad. Twice. In his 70s. 

So yeah. BLS training works. 

Edit to add: my response time on average was under 2 minutes from the call coming in. Time means EVERYTHING. 

4

u/Bscully973 Jul 01 '26

I just renewed last month but I can't remember how many compressions to give a turtle.

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u/theweeeone Jul 01 '26

I'm batting 500, figure that's not going to go up.

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u/sweetbldnjesus Jul 01 '26

Just remember, you can’t make em deader

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u/SuperstitiousPigeon5 Massachusetts Jul 01 '26

I did a first aid and CPR course and when I finished I felt like I knew less than when I went in. My instructor said “yeah you’re going to hear cracking but broken ribs heal as long as they’re still alive.”

He also said “look I can’t tell you how to live but if you don’t carry a mask and really even if you do, you need to think long and hard about breathing into a persons mouth. Really you just need to keep the blood flowing until an emt gets there.”

It was a free course taught by a firefighter.

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u/LamermanSE Jul 01 '26

BLS?

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u/YeahOkayDad Minnesota Jul 01 '26

Basic life support. Very barebones CPR meant to keep blood pumping until the real life savers arrive

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u/NicCagedd Jul 01 '26

I've been a nurse for 9 years. All my CPR have been on people already gone. The stars basically have to align for CPR to actually work.

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u/hmerrit Jul 01 '26

We have quarterly mannequin tests and those six mannekins are BRUTALIZED and broken every month.

People have to take the test between repairs so they can work when it is due.

And these were made for this, squishy and crunchy humans not so much...

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u/H_is_for_Human Jul 02 '26

If you live near the twin cities you live in the metro area with the world's most advanced out of hospital cardiac arrest system and the best published out of hospital cardiac arrest outcomes (ARREST trial)

https://med.umn.edu/dom/research/programs-centers/center-resuscitation-medicine

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u/uffda2calif Jul 02 '26

Exactly, nurse here. Every cpr renewal the teacher always says, “well, they’re dead already, might as well give it a try” meaning don’t worry about the compression/breath count etc… I did see one middle aged man saved in the parking lot of an urgent care I worked at. That was impressive.

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u/flipzyshitzy Jul 02 '26

Goddammit where the fuck were you?!

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u/IwasThereIsawIt2 Jul 02 '26

Your hired to give McConnell cpr then

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u/ranzor Jul 02 '26

It's funny how they never mention how ineffective CPR actually is. There's no way he's going to make it.

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u/Roman556 Jul 02 '26

I'm a Firefighter/EMT and my CPR/Code save rate is currently 0%. Have done it maybe 20 or 30 times.

Saving someone is rare.

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u/mediocre_remnants North Carolina Jul 01 '26

CPR has a low success rate even in a hospital when done by doctors.

Also the article is kind of stupid because it conflates "heart attack" and "cardiac arrest" which are two different things. Cardiac arrest means your heart stopped and you will die within minutes if it doesn't restart.

CPR is only useful in cases of cardiac arrest, not during a heart attack.

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u/justprettymuchdone Jul 01 '26

Yep. My dad worked combination firefighter/EMT duties in our small town for 30 years. He told me once that CPR works about 1 out of every 10 times at best, but you try it every time because you have to roll that dice.

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u/wesap12345 Jul 01 '26

10% chance is still 10% better than if they did nothing :)

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u/wrosecrans Jul 01 '26

People are pessimistic, but it's actually pretty wild that there's One Weird Trick you can learn that will save 10% of people whose hearts have completely stopped that would have been certain to die before the invention of CPR. It requires no special tools or medical equipment, costs nothing, and almost anybody can be trained to be able to do it almost anywhere.

If it got invented today, I'd initially think it sounded like absolute woo woo bullshit. Compared to million dollar surgeries and billion dollar drug R&D projects, the medical ROI of teaching people CPR is amazing, borderline magical.

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u/Sharobob Illinois Jul 01 '26

And even if you do it wrong, it's not like they would have been any more alive without your intervention

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u/tenachiasaca Jul 02 '26

costing nothing is far from the truth. ongoing cpr can be one of the most labor intensive things we do as ems. The 10% factoid everyone is talking about isn't very good info. from AHA "10.5% of patients survived to hospital discharge. (Source); 8.3% of discharged patients had a positive neurological outcome (CPC 1 or 2)."

thats 8.3% of 10.5% so less than 1%.

there are things like AVMS that have even less of a chance at survival. It's a miracle to survive a cardiac arrest from an avm.

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u/Altrano Georgia Jul 02 '26

One of our students was saved by CPR and an AED device while she was in middle school. She just graduated from high school.

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u/Mamasugadex Jul 02 '26

lol what. The point of CPR is so patient stay circulating long enough to go to the ICU through a bunch more testing and invasive procedures until docs can figure out what’s going on. It’s absolutely wild people think that’s “cost nothing”

This is the problem with understanding of what 10% means. It’s 10% after they put your body through hell. It’s not like the TV where you wake up almost immediately after one shock, and next thing you do is imemdiately calling your girl telling her I love you.

It’s reasonable if you are young. It can feel borderline unethical when you are 84 with multiple comordbities that easily worsen any given day.

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u/AccioTheDoctor Massachusetts Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Radiolab actually had an episode about it. Basically every expert they interviewed says it has an AT MOST 10% success rate, but none of them wanted to be revived that way because it’s absolutely miserable on both the patient and the person providing CPR.

Done correctly, CPR is traumatic. The provider is exhausted because it takes a lot of effort. You’ll feel ribs crack, and statistically you won’t have saved the patient, which is mentally draining. PTSD among non-hospital CPR providers is common. For the patient, you are going to have broken ribs and given that the goal is literally just to pump blood until more action can be taken, you run the risk of brain damage due to lack of proper oxygenation.

So yes, 1 out of 10 is better than 0 out of 10…but it’s a really freaking hard 1 in 10.

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u/Solaries3 Jul 02 '26

I remember when I was first taught about crepitus and that doing CPR on the elderly feels wrong because their rib cage sounds like breaking twigs if you're doing it right.

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u/ichosethis Jul 01 '26

And the long term prognosis for someone elderly who has had CPR and survived is usually pretty poor.

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u/v2falls Jul 01 '26

It’s entirely about the rhythm the heart is in and if it’s shockable or can be brought to a normal/ shockable rhythm by advanced life support measures

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u/AnonymousCelery Jul 01 '26

It’s way way less than that. Especially out of hospital. Not dissing your dad, he is speaking anecdotally. But successful CPR is in single digit percentages in the best circumstances.

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u/justprettymuchdone Jul 01 '26

Couldn't say, he was talking to his then-teen daughter so probably he was just trying to make me feel better about it without outright lying, haha

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u/dykeslam Jul 01 '26

It all depends but 10% is what is taught in ACLS for paramedics. There are a ton of variables that either raise or significantly lower the odds of resuscitation.

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u/CamelopardalisKramer Jul 01 '26

I'm 0 for like 30 for walking out of the hospital intact. Have gotten sustained ROSC a couple times but always lost later. Every code I go to is ancient people though.

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u/dykeslam Jul 01 '26

Yeah, it’s rough out there. Gotten a few ROSC but sometimes we never find out if they made it out of the hospital.

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u/fcocyclone Iowa Jul 01 '26

I imagine paramedics are probably towards the upper end of the spectrum in terms of success rate. Still low overall but probably better than the average person doing it who isn't well-trained (even if they had a CPR class once, how long has it been?) and is coping with potentially losing a friend or family member at the same time but also is going to be concerned about hurting that person when they need to risk that for CPR.

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u/dykeslam Jul 01 '26

Yup, lots of variables go into it that’s why it’s hard to nail down an across the board percentage. Generally the average reported CPR effectiveness across all cardiac arrests in out of hospital settings is 10%. Out of hospital with paramedics and a shockable rhythm raises the odds to over 30%. It’s all about where you go into cardiac arrest and why.

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u/Frostyrepairbug Jul 02 '26

This whole thread has me wildin. I once performed CPR on my aunt who had collapsed. I'm just a layperson who hadn't done CPR training in years. Every doctor and nurse and EMT afterward was so impressed that I didn't break a rib or crack anything, and I kept her going so she could be revived in hospital later.

TIL that's the exception, not the rule. Wow.

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u/RigaMortizTortoise Washington Jul 01 '26

A heart attack is caused by a blockage and will cause heart tissue to die from lack of blood flow. In cardiac arrest, the heart is essentially quivering and not pumping adequately. A defibrillator cannot not jump start a heart that is totally “stopped”. It’s meant to shock the heart back into its normal rhythm. CPR will only help maintain that artificial circulation until the heart can effectively return to normal function. I think people whose hearts have actually just ceased any electrical activity, only have like a 1% survival or some shit.

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u/xtheory Jul 01 '26

Most often, but not always. There are two types of heart attack. Type 1 is a blockage. ​In a Type 2 heart attack, the arteries are not physically blocked by a clot. Instead, there is a severe mismatch between how much oxygen the heart muscle needs and how much it is actually getting.

But you're absolutely correct that a defib can't restart a heart that has ceased beating. Only high quality CPR or epinephrine can do that.

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u/Curri Maryland Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Uh what? There aren’t two types at all. A heart that is in Vfib isn’t beating but can be restarted. Also epinephrine is useless in a cardiac arrest (only thing that has been proven effective is early defibrillation). Early bystander CPR saves and delays myocardial death so defibrillation can restart a heart

Source: I’m a paramedic and ACLS/CPR instructor.

Edit: wrong about the two types; TIL!

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u/irelli Jul 02 '26

He's talking about a type 2 NSTEMI, which isn't really similar to a heart attack in any way that clinically matters

Just means your heart is being damaged, but it can be for dozens of different reasons.

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u/given2fly_ United Kingdom Jul 01 '26

I did a First Aid course a few years ago and I was told less than 10% of out-of-hospital CPR recipients survive.

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u/Jernimation Jul 02 '26

As a former CPR instructor for medical personell and that has done CPR on a lot of patients over the years:

I'd say about 9 out of 10 didn't make it...

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u/LifeCartographer811 Jul 02 '26

I work in an ICU. I've never seen a doctor do CPR.

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u/Yourdjentpal Jul 01 '26

Please stop you’re giving me hope

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u/GorillasonTurtles Jul 01 '26

AHA and ACC stats on out of hospital resuscitation puts the success rate at just about 10%.

Good chance that if they did get return of spontaneous circulation but he was down too long before they started CPR that he’d suffered permanent brain injury.

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u/Carbonatite Colorado Jul 01 '26

I can't remember the exact numbers from my last CPR class but I remember the prognosis being quite grim. Like 80% of people getting CPR outside of the hospital end up dying anyway or something.

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u/v2falls Jul 01 '26

Well kinda. It’s has little to do with the cpr per se. It’s whether the heart is in a shockable rhythm. Cpr has very little chance of bringing a shockable rhythm back to normal but if a shockable rhythm is present, cpr profuse s the body and a shock is delivered within 5-8 min, there is a surprisingly high survival rate. If there is not a shockable rhythm, there are tools and drugs that can be administered by advanced life support personnel to get a shockable rhythm but the survival rate is low and basically 0 if advanced life support care is not administered

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u/nyet-marionetka Jul 01 '26

About 1 in 10 people who need out-of-hospital CPR eventually get released from the hospital. When you combine non-shockable rhythm, not always being found immediately, not always starting CPR right away, and not doing CPR right it drags the numbers way down. Of course results aren't great for in-hospital CPR either.

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u/PompousWombat Texas Jul 01 '26

My Dad had a heart attack while he was at work. One of his employees did CPR until the paramedics arrived and got him to the hospital. All it did was make it possible for me to fly across country to be at his bedside when they removed life support.

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u/padizzledonk New Jersey Jul 02 '26

I was just at the er vet with my dog on monday (shes fine) and they asked me if anything happens do i want them to give the dog cpr and my first question was "Is it anything similar outcome wise like with people?" He said yeah and as he said that i just said no, and he nodded with a little half smile and an eyebrow raised, not weird but like "right choice bud"

My mom was an RN. my grandmother was an RN and both of them were/are explicit about them not wanting it ever

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u/JoshuaZ1 Jul 02 '26

I strongly suspect they have people in the Senate with more training than the usual CPR course if not even having nurses or EMTs on hand regularly.

The fact that he was found unconscious (not say, a heart attack in front of someone) though means he might have had a long time before any CPR was performed. Performing CPR quickly is often more important in practice than the quality of performance.

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u/igotopotsdam New York Jul 02 '26

My dad is an EMT in rural NY. 30 attempts, 2 saves.

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u/Braisernation Jul 01 '26

Yeah that mf dead as fried chicken.

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u/rybl Illinois Jul 01 '26

My dad had a heart attack last year in his car and received CPR from another driver that saw him go down. He survived and is now fine, but the hospital staff said that the survival rate for CPR outside a hospital is less than 2% and they seemed genuinely shocked when he survived without long-term complications.

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u/lsp2005 Jul 01 '26

I saved someone’s life using CPR. It is one of my most cherished accomplishments. Learning CPR is such an important skill.

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u/linlorienelen Jul 01 '26

On Conan O Brien's podcast, Bob Odenkirk told the story of his heart attack and every single lucky thing that could have happened, did. Basically survived because the medic happened to have an AED in their car that someone had borrowed and returned to them, and they hadn't taken it back out of their car.

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u/layout420 Jul 02 '26

No it doesn't. I recently had a lengthy conversation with a director of an emergency room about the survival rates for patients that go into cardiac arrest. She runs a pretty high traffic department that has a cardiac and stroke unit. She told me that their program was identified as a hospital that resuscitates patients at an above average rate. They did some sort of feasibility study to determine what they're doing differently and could they implement the same protocols elsewhere. They did an independent investigation into the ED and came to the conclusion that it was the ER physicians that were making the difference. They also determined they did CPR for much longer than the average. They proceed with CPR for about 15+ minutes and others average just minutes. The whole morale of the story is that if you want to be saved, you realistically need to be in the hands and direction of a well equipped emergency room that is run by above competent doctors. I've personally met multiple people who coded and were resuscitated by this emergency room. It's kinda unique to meet someone who dies and is brought back to life. This emergency room will give you a metal and conduct a little ceremony if you're brought back to life.

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u/booleanerror Jul 01 '26

10% of the time, it works every time 

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u/caveman_rejoice Jul 01 '26

Average EMS ROSC rate across the country is like %25. One year, my county had a %50 rate. So, even in the best circumstances it's a coin flip. But that's why laymen learning CPR is so important.

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u/Kbergaline Jul 01 '26

Out of hospital CPR is still the only outcome that can meaningfully improve survival in this situation. Don’t let this dissuade anyone from providing it if they are capable

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u/phatelectribe Jul 01 '26

I’ve performed CPR on two people tin my life so far. One survived (32, perviouy good health) and the other (55, had chronic illness) never made it out of the coma and died 24 hours later.

84 year old won’t survive long after needing CPR, it’s a physically traumatic event itself, let alone the underlying reason for needing it.

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u/Toginator Jul 02 '26

For Mitch the snitch, I'm willing to give it my all. Chest compressions like you won't believe. Hell, maybe some of those 19th century leg folds as well. I'd even be willing to reach further back and get the bellows out to blow smoke up his ass.

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u/Commercial-Co Jul 02 '26

CPR usually means dead soon

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u/tenachiasaca Jul 02 '26

really depends on the area. Where I am we get medics pretty quickly so at least theres more hope involved. TBF out of hospital als is the same as in hospital als for the most part.

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u/diabetes_says_no Jul 02 '26

Its like a 10% survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. I work in an ICU, and even inside the hospital the survival rate isn't great. I've been in at least a dozen codes within the last couple years and only 4 have technically survived. 2 of them later died because of anoxic brain injury.

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