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Health See other Health Articles Title: When to revive an avalanche victim, when to give up NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It doesn't happen often, but when an avalanche comes crashing down on skiers or mountaineers, rescuers routinely face a tough choice: whom should they try to save, given limited resources? In a new study, doctors doubling as mountain guides tested which factors spell hope for unconscious victims (in cardiac arrest) -- and should trigger resuscitation efforts. Analyzing the medical literature, they found that after 15 minutes buried in the snow, as many as nine out of ten people in cardiac arrest can be successfully revived. "Avalanches asphyxiate young people, often in their 20s, who are far more likely to respond to treatment," said Dr. Jeff Boyd, a mountain guide and an emergency physician at Mineral Springs Hospital in Banff, Alberta, Canada, who worked on the study. After 35 minutes in the snow, or when body temperature has dropped to less than 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit, on average only three in 10 people can be revived. To identify these people, the so-called avalanche resuscitation algorithm -- a guideline that tells rescuers when to revive a person -- recommends looking for an air pocket around the victims face. But a small air pocket could be easily destroyed or overlooked in the frantic digging for survivors. Instead, Boyd and colleagues recommend focusing on the airway. Even after 35 minutes, they found, resuscitation can be successful if a victim's airway is free. But if it's clogged, for instance by snow or vomit, it's too late. In cases where nothing is known about the circumstances, a hospital may do a blood test to determine how much potassium there is in the blood. When levels of the mineral are high, it indicates that cells in the body have begun to break down, and that there is little or no hope left. Currently, said Boyd, whose findings appear in the journal Resuscitation, people are often under-resuscitated or over-resuscitated. As a result, lives or life-saving resources could be lost. "In areas where avalanches do tend to occur physicians may not always be aware of the potential for successful resuscitation and the fact that there are structured guidelines," he told Reuters Health. "So it's important to get the word out there." Dr. Colin Grissom, who was not involved in the study, said the cold actually helps protect the body and the brain. "It's almost as if their body is in hibernation mode," he said. "You're not dead until you're warm and dead." Grissom related the case of an 11-year-old boy from Utah who was buried by an avalanche. After his father called 911, the boy was resuscitated by doctors following more than half an hour in cardiac arrest. "There are happy outcomes to the guidelines if you use them," said Grissom, a critical care physician at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and president of the Wilderness Medical Society. But the vast distances and desolate wilderness in North America often mean that rescue teams can be far away. Since lethal hypothermia happens after about 90 minutes in the snow, according to Boyd and colleagues, survival often depends on companions' ability to help. The first thing to do is call for help, said Boyd, who estimates that about 50 people die in avalanches every year in North America. Then perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until help arrives. "More and more these days," he said, "advanced life support teams do respond to avalanches."
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#1. To: Prefrontal Vortex (#0)
Prefrontal Vortex, if you were caught in an avalanche, do you want to be saved? If you answer, yes, then you are a hypocrite, and you don't deserve to be saved. If you answer, no, then you lead by example and die from the cold.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "You've got to put right and wrong above legal and illegal. Because when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty; and it is not rebellion at all, it is submission to the higher law that our government is in rebellion to. We're not the rebels, they're the rebels."
A comedy of justice!
I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies. -- Ron Paul
Okay, I apologize. I shouldn't have said that.
I stay away from snow, water, and anyone else that might hurt me. And God, I am so bored!
“No amount of reason, evidence, logic or rational argument will ever convince the true believer otherwise.”
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