Bystanders are less likely to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to women than men, particularly if the emergency takes place in a public area, according to research presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress. The study also shows that in private locations older people, especially o...
Bystanders are less likely to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to women than men, particularly if the emergency takes place in a public area, according to research presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress. The study also shows that in private locations older people, especially older men, are less likely to receive CPR.
The researchers don't know what is causing this but it really troubles me.
I can only guess its because of the fear of getting sued for sexual assault. The details of the story unfortunately dont matter, many folks just read the headlines and theyll just remember "helping them will get you sued"
The difference was far smaller than i anticipated, so im mildly relieved. Hopefully, should i be right, we manage to dispell these fears
From the original article: "I could have died peacefully, but now I am living a nightmare; I was sexually assaulted in broad daylight by the only person who was sober at the party; what are the chances?.”
It's Canadian research, is the situation in Canada re: suing each other the same as in the US? I don't know much about that aspect.
Would be interesting to see similar research somewhere with few personal injury lawsuits (like NZ, where anyone injured by CPR is already covered by universal no-fault accident insurance).
My first thought is that maybe because women's chests have been sexualized, men are more hesitant to perform cpr on women in a public place. Not saying that either piece of that puzzle is right or rational, by the way. I'd be interested to see the numbers on the gender ratios of people giving cpr to women in public places to see if that lines up.
I think also AFAB women's heart attacks often don't present the same as men's, and a lot of knowledge about what a heart attach looks/feels like is based around what a man's heart attack looks like.
Then there's the way women's expressions of pain are more likely to be discounted.
It could be that people are worried about hurting or touching women, or that they think a woman is less likely to be having a cardiac arrest.
I took a CPR class back in the day, they told us that, particularly with older patients, "if you don't hear the ribs crack, then you're not doing the compressions hard enough". 😳
I left knowing how to do CPR... and hoping to never ever have to do it, particularly not on older people. Would I rather do CPR on a grandpa rather than on a grandma?... I think I'd rather have someone else do it in either case.