Mouth-to-Mouth: We all think it’s the best thing for a heart attack victim, and we’re all wrong

Most of us will attempt mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on someone who we suspect has had a heart attack.  After all, we’ve seen it on the movies and television, first aid people say it’s part of correct procedure, and even doctors will probably advise it, too – and it’s just about the worst thing we can do.

It dramatically increases the chances of the person dying because it stops you pushing down on the chest, which is about the only life-saving thing that actually might work in that extreme situation.

Chest compression has been proved to be the most effective technique in various studies – and yet doctors continue to recommend mouth-to-mouth as part of emergency first-aid care for heart attack patients.

So why do they?  It may be because they treat all sudden and life-threatening attacks the same – and, of course, they’re all different, despite having superficial similarities.  

A person who has almost drowned or taken a drugs overdose may look like a heart attack victim – but there’s one big difference.  In these cases, the victim has usually stopped breathing, and so mouth-to-mouth combined with chest compression is absolutely the right thing to do.

But most heart attack victims are still breathing very lightly, or gasping, and so mouth-to-mouth is not only unnecessary, it may also increase the chances of death.

(Source: The Lancet, 2007; 369: 882-4).

 
E-news broadcast 22 March 2007 No.344 [Subscribe]