ViaHealth Rochester General Hospital has come out with an important notice disclaiming the article “How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone.” For the benefit of readers, I have reproduced the disclaimer here. Please read carefully the disclaimer before going through the article. Thanks to John Light for bringing this information to my attention. Furthermore, swallowing a 325 mg aspirin at the onset of chest pain can save your life than trying a risky cough CPR, read about this at “Cough Dropped.”

Important Notice: ‘How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone’

Hundreds of people around the country have been receiving an e-mail message entitled “How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone.” This article recommends a procedure to survive a heart attack in which the victim is advised to repeatedly cough at regular intervals until help arrives.

The source of information for this article was attributed to ViaHealth Rochester General Hospital. This article is being propagated on the Internet as individuals send it to friends and acquaintances - and then those recipients of the memo send it to their friends and acquaintances, and so on.

We can find no record that an article even resembling this was produced by Rochester General Hospital within the last 20 years. Furthermore, the medical information listed in the article can not be verified by current medical literature and is in no way condoned by this hospital’s medical staff. Also, both The Mended Hearts, Inc., a support organization for heart patients, and the American Heart Association have said that this information should not be forwarded or used by anyone.

Please help us combat the proliferation of this misinformation. We ask that you please send this e-mail to anyone who sent you the article, and please ask them to do the same.

Sincerely,

Rich Sensenbach
Web Development Coordinator
ViaHealth Rochester General Hospital
(585) 922-2124

Here is the post published earlier for your perusal:

“I came across this very interesting forwarded email and I think it’s my duty to share it for the awareness and benefit of everyone. Here it is:”

Let’s say it’s 6:15 pm and you’re driving home (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job. You’re really tired, and frustrated……

You are really stressed and upset ….

Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don’t know if you’ll be able to make it that far.

WHAT TO DO ???

You have been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but the guy that conducted the course didn’t tell you how to perform it on yourself !!!

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE?

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing conscious.

WHAT TO DO ???

ANSWER:

Do not panic, but start coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.

A deep breath should be taken before each cough; the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.

A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives !!! Don’t ever think that you are not prone to heart attack as your age is less than 25 or 30. Nowadays due to the change in the lifestyle, heart attack is found among people of all age groups.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON N.º 240 OF JOURNAL OF GENERAL HOSPITAL ROCHESTER

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Health Care Info & News Ramblings Dec 12 2007