Question

While functioning at the scene of a patient in cardiac arrest, you do not initiate CPR because the patient is elderly and you think that he is probably dead. Paramedics arrive and determine that the patient has only been in cardiac arrest for 6 minutes. Which of the following statements regarding this scenario is correct?

A. You may be held liable for failure to follow the standard of care.
B. Your actions are consistent with the responsibilities of an EMR.
C. The patient would most likely not be able to be resuscitated.
D. As an EMR, you did not have a legal duty to begin CPR.

Answer 1

As an Emergency Medical Responder, there is a legal and ethical duty to begin CPR on a patient in cardiac arrest, regardless of the patient's age, due to the possibility of preventing brain death and improving the patient's chance of survival.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario where an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) did not initiate CPR on an elderly patient in cardiac arrest, the correct statement is that as an EMR, there is a legal and ethical duty to provide care. Cardiac arrest is a critical condition where immediate intervention is necessary to restore blood flow, particularly to the brain, where irreversible damage occurs within minutes without blood flow.

The fact that paramedics determined the patient had only been in cardiac arrest for six minutes underscores the importance of beginning CPR immediately, as brain death is likely after about six minutes without oxygen. Performance of CPR is critical and should not be withheld based on age or the assumption that it is too late, especially since the outcome can be significantly improved if CPR is initiated within the first few minutes following cardiac arrest.