
NYC EMTs stop taking cardiac arrest patients to hospitals - lordmax
https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/coronavirus-nyc-emts-stop-taking-cardiac-arrest-patients-to-hospitals/
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socratis
It is unusual to transport a patient to a hospital if return of spontaneous
circulation (ROSC) is not achieved in on-scene.

E.g, in San Francisco's protocols, if a patient doesn't regain a pulse after
30 minutes of CPR, the patient is declared dead and not transported to the
hospital (unless the base hospital requests transport, which is rare). See
policy 4050-II-2 (Medical Indications).

[https://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/EMS/Policy-Protocol-
Manuals/...](https://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/EMS/Policy-Protocol-Manuals/EMS-
AGENCY-POLICY-MANUAL-030319.pdf)

From that perspective, I'm surprised that the old policy existed. With respect
to getting a pulse back, there's not much that can be done in a hospital that
can't be done in the field. (Of course, after a pulse returns, then the
hospital can do lots of things that can't be done on-scene).

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Waterluvian
My understanding is that if hypothermia isn't involved, anyone who can't be
resusitated by paramedics but can be resuscitated at the hospital are very
unlikely to have any quality of life afterwards.

This is based on some "real talk" by a YouTube doctor so I'd love anyone more
knowledgeable than me to chime in.

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jmalicki
The chance of dying before discharged from a hospital if you have a heart
attack out of a hospital is about 90%... If you need CPR, your chances of
going home again are small.

[https://ahainstructornetwork.americanheart.org/AHAECC/CPRAnd...](https://ahainstructornetwork.americanheart.org/AHAECC/CPRAndECC/AboutCPRECC/CPRFactsAndStats/UCM_475748_CPR-
Facts-and-Stats.jsp)

