Father dies after police stop daughter's CPR

[freeatlast]

A West Texas woman and her daughter have sued a city and police after allegedly being barred from doing CPR on a relative, who later died....
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Father-dies-after-police-stop-daughter-s-CPR-2422514.php

 

[Gina B]

I thought it was illegal to STOP performing CPR once you start it, unless there is someone able and willing to take over for you or you become too exhausted to continue. (or a qualified person calls it)

Is that not nationwide?

 

[Don]

Can't find anything from the police side of the story. They should have been able to recognize CPR was being performed, so it makes no sense that they would have just stopped it; they should have had the appropriate training to take over for the daughter rather than removing her from the situation.

I look forward to seeing more details as this develops.

 

[annsni]

I thought it was illegal to STOP performing CPR once you start it, unless there is someone able and willing to take over for you or you become too exhausted to continue. (or a qualified person calls it)

Is that not nationwide?

I don't believe it's illegal but it is recommended that if you start it, you keep it going since you could be giving the person a chance. But I don't think there is any law stating that you must continue once started.

 

[targus]

Since the guy was alive when they arrived at the hospital and only died later it may be difficult to prove that the police stopping the CPR was the cause of death.

Is it possible that the daughter was administering the CPR incorrectly and that is the reason that she was stopped?

 

[annsni]

Since the guy was alive when they arrived at the hospital and only died later it may be difficult to prove that the police stopping the CPR was the cause of death.

Is it possible that the daughter was administering the CPR incorrectly and that is the reason that she was stopped?

If the paramedics were doing CPR, he was not alive. You only do CPR when there is no heartbeat so he was "dead" when he arrived.

But it IS possible that she was doing it incorrectly and so was not doing any good. Unless you really know how to do it, it's not going to be effective at all. But honestly, they most likely will not be able to say that he died because they could not do CPR since most patients who do not have spontaneous breathing or detectible heart rate will die regardless of CPR.

 

[convicted1]

Can't find anything from the police side of the story. They should have been able to recognize CPR was being performed, so it makes no sense that they would have just stopped it; they should have had the appropriate training to take over for the daughter rather than removing her from the situation.

I look forward to seeing more details as this develops.

I think the law has no good side of this story, so they don't tell their side of it. I think if they told their side, it either condemns them, or it would be a BIG FAT LIE to cover things up.

 

[Carolina Baptist]

Not much information in the news story. I would like to hear the officers’ side.
It is true that the odds were against him. As a former EMT, I am 0 - 7 at CPR. However, if the officers stopped the daughter from performing CPR they assumed the responsibility for patient care. If they didn’t resume CPR themselves, there is clear negligence. They took away his only chance of survival.

 

[Aaron]

You could bet the police wouldn't have stopped the CPR unless there were lawyers involved.