Protocol got in the way of saving a life

Man dies feet from ER after hospital says to call 911: Heart attack victim crashed car in parking lot, had to wait for ambulance to arrive to get help

Two police officers began CPR. A third went to the ER to notify them and was told to call emergency services. The hospital says it was unclear the man was having a heart attack and protocol calls for 911 to be called because in car crashes the victim may need to extricated. Trouble is, although they say they dispatched security guards with a defibrillator and a paramedic went outside, no one apparently provided medical help until the ambulance arrived except the police officers and the man died despite their efforts.

What a shame. I hope they investigate it thoroughly. I suspect there will be a lawsuit, and to be honest, in this case going by what the report says, I can't blame them.

Success, by the way

I am now on Actos instead of Avandia. The nurse practitioner left it up to me, but he gave me a 'fact sheet' that was put out by the maker of Avandia. It's true Actos is part of the same class and can cause congestive heart failure. I knew that. I was really more concerned with the heart attack/ischemia issue, to be honest. So I chose to try Actos instead. We'll see how that goes. The Avandia was not appreciably lowering my blood sugar, anyway, so maybe the Actos will do so. They gave me enough samples for a month plus a voucher for another free month, so that was nice.

(I didn't actually see my doctor to discuss it. He was at the desk, though, and offered me some sugar-free jelly beans that were yummy.) :)

David Rothman of davidrothman.net did not have a heart attack

It was David H. Rothman of TeleRead, a great site devoted to E-Books. What are the chances that the same name would come up in my reader? Anyway, I hope the other David recovers quickly and thanks to David Rothman (no H.) for putting me straight. And you should still check out his site/the links I put in, because he is one cool medical librarian. :)

Sorry for the confusion...I hope I didn't alarm anyone.

PS, here's hoping for a full recovery of a fellow medical librarian

***SEE UPDATE BELOW***

I didn't really read much of my RSS feeds, including news, over the week I was on vacation. I have 600 in my reader right now, and I went through a few earlier today. But one thing I did see was unfortunate, and I thought I'd mention it here. David Rothman, a medical librarian whose blog I read and who was named as a Mover and Shaker in Library Journal last time they came out with the list, had a heart attack a few days ago, followed by a quadruple bypass within 24 hours. There was a 90% blockage. David doesn’t smoke and is primarily a vegetarian, but apparently there is a family history of heart problems. He's not that old (he looks to be in his 30s or early 40s at the most). He and his wife were blessed with a baby this summer. I'm hope he's doing better now.

To put a face to a name, you can see David in a video shot earlier this year as part of a plenary session called Web 2.0 Principles and Best Practices: Discovering the Participatory Web at the MLA annual meeting in May. He was the first presenter. He gave a great talk, and has a definite sense of humour. Or there's a nice article about him called 'Direct Effects: David Rothman, Community General Hospital' with a picture. Again, best wishes, and I hope everything turns out for David and his family.

UPDATE: Please see the next post for the real story. Basically, the David Rothman who had the heart attack was not the medical librarian who blogs at davidrothman.net. Their names are very similar, and it appeared in my library feed because David H Rothman (who did have the heart attack) is involved with E-Books.

Thanks to David (no H) for putting me straight, both in the comment below and on his blog. Sorry for the confusion/alarm, and a personaly apology to David for any misunderstandings that may arise. I've tried to update this in such a way, both with a new post and editing this one, so it'll make it through searches and RSS feeds okay.)

I hope to Gods this doesn't turn viral. I'll have more understanding for gaffes that politicians and reporters make (although I still love Biden's assertion that FDR addressed the country on television in 1929, when he wasn't president yet, no was there television. Hey, I'll still vote for him, even if he has a weak sense of history. At least he knows he's running for vice-president, which is more than you can say about Sarah Palin.)

Damned if you do,,,

Glaxo's HIV Drug May Be Linked To Heart Attack Risk - Study

GlaxoSmithKline's Ziagen, which has as its active ingredient abacavir, may be linked to increased risk of heart attack, according to an article published Wednesday online at The Lancet. Researchers studying six HIV medicines found Ziagen linked to a twofold increase in the risk of heart attack. Abacavir is also found in the combination drugs Trizivir and Epzicom. Another drug,
Videx, produced by Bristol-Myers Squibb, was linked to a 50% increased risk of heart attack.

I found this really interesting

To Treat the Dead

It was in last week's Newsweek. I couldn't find it online then to blog about it, but apparently lots of others did, as it was the most e-mailed story from that issue (I know, what kind of librarian am I, that I couldn't find it--right?) We all have our moments.

Scientists have found that it isn't the lack of oxygen one has with cardiac arrest that kills heart cells...it's the resumption of oxygen. So they're changing the protocols of how to resuscitate a patient, with amazing results.