What should you do if you come across an unconscious person?
bookofjoe.com
bookofjoe.com
Lol. Who said it was a 'her'? That jumped out at me.
Just checking at the original article though: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120277331164160573 .. and you can see that in the WSJ, it was 'him'!
So this bookofjoe character, says they are quoting the WSJ but actually changes the quote, making a low level politically correct adjustment.
And I'm the chap (or idiot) who spends my time checking sources, and uncovering this scandal! Lol.
If someone doesn't start evening things out, we'll never get there.
So flay me if you like, I deserve it, but I also think I did the right thing.
Though I could have added misquotation insult to injury by changing the Q. part to "What should you do if you come across an unconscious person" and omitting "as in the case of actor Heath Ledger?"
That might have averted your gimlet eye since "her" would have no male antecedent.
I LOVE that you checked this: I probably would have done exactly the same thing.
It's impossible, IMHO, to be too meticulous about accuracy.
Plus, it's fun when you expose someone like this bookofjoe character for what he (note use of pronoun: I could have instead employed "they") is.
I agree - when I read the original source, you do easily read 'him'; it doesn't jar.
But, like you, I always wonder why they do that. I wouldn't. You can easily use 'they', or say something like, presuming this is a man/woman you would check him/her... etc.
But thanks for replying and taking the critique on the chin!
You just made my day — thanks!
P.S. I must have a very low bar, now that I think about it...
It's not btw. Cardiac arrest is not 50/50, it's more like 70/30. You're much more likely to have to perform CPR on a man (unless you're primarily surrounded by very old people, I suppose). Women are more likely to not receive proper CPR though, likely because bystanders are afraid to be accused of improper conduct and/or afraid to hurt them (as women are generally significantly older then men when they get their first cardiac arrest).
Also, in general: before you start CPR, remove their cloths from the upper body. There a chance they may suffer from ventricular fibrillation which can be solved with an AED. If you start CPR without having removed their (upper body) cloths, you can't use the AED without a long pause - at which point you've lost a lot of time.
From: Sex‐Based Disparities in Incidence, Treatment, and Outcomes of Cardiac Arrest in the United States, 2003–2012
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4937290/
"Of the 1,436,052 discharge records analyzed from patients who were transported alive to the emergency department of acute‐care hospitals with a cardiac arrest between 2003 and 2012, 45.4% (n=651 745) were females."
>Women are more likely to not receive proper CPR though, likely because bystanders are afraid to be accused of improper conduct and/or afraid to hurt them (as women are generally significantly older than men when they get their first cardiac arrest).
This is an EXCELLENT observation and correct, based on my experience running countless Code Blues over 38 years of practice as an in-hospital (neurosurgical) anesthesiologist.
Women's bone density is less than that of men's, so much so that just leaning on the chest of an elderly woman can fracture ribs.
Successful CPR (rare, but it does happen) in such cases almost always results in numerous rib fractures.
>Also, in general: before you start CPR, remove their clothes from the upper body. There's a chance they may suffer from ventricular fibrillation which can be solved with an AED. If you start CPR without having removed their (upper body) clothes, you can't use the AED without a long pause - at which point you've lost a lot of time.
I demur. The time wasted removing upper body clothing before beginning CPR lessens the chance of successful CPR (discharge from the hospital without brain damage being the criterion).
Indeed, they may be in vfib, but it is unlikely, in an out-of-hospital setting, that an AED will be brought to the scene before the person dies.
As for AED: It's the guideline in Germany, but we've also had a push for public availability, with most schools, banks, malls, larger offices etc having a portable one on site. I got to train with it during a first aid refresher recently, and it definitely taught me that I might need treatment as well if I'm to do CPR for 12-15 minutes.
Anyway, it didn't make it to court because every witness of her painful healing period also remarked that she continually spoke of how lucky she was to be alive. Without CPR she wouldn't have such a story to tell.
Given that they mentioned a male person being found just before, I got confused as well. "Heath Ledger" => "him" does not sound confusing, ergo no need to check. "If you find an unconscious person, like actress Natalie Portman... shake him, shout at him" would also be weird and suggest checking.