Currently viewing the category: "cardiac arrest"

Stupid Pool Games

By On · Add Comment · In Air Force, Battlefield Airmen, cardiac arrest, drowning, Navy Seals, shallow water blackout, swimming pool

Another summer-fun warning: Don’t horse around in the swimming pool–it could kill you.  Seriously.

Last weekend, while sitting at the pool, I noticed two young girls, probably in their teens or early twenties, playing a strange game of dunking each others heads in the water and holding it down for several seconds.  Although it was probably only ten seconds at a time, I couldn’t help but think…how stupid.

It got me thinking of a story I read the week before in the New York Post of two young men in their twenties found floating face-down in a Staten Island public swimming pool.  These guys were playing games too, although theirs was of a different nature.  They were practicing breath-holding as a way to condition themselves for an upcoming entrance exam for the Air Force’s elite Battlefield Airmen commandos.

One of the men died at a hospital that day, while the other died five days later.  Both men were twenty-one years old.

These were no out-of-shape poor swimmers, either.  One was a city lifeguard, and heading to the Air Force, the other wanted to be a Navy SEAL.  Making it matters worse, they were only in three feet of water.  Apparently, the men suffered cardiac arrest while holding their breath for an extended period.  Because of the large size of the swimming pool, lifeguards did not see nor respond to the men quickly enough to save them.

The men were regulars at the pool, conducting their conditioning routine by swimming and doing underwater situps (duh!), as well as other aquatic workouts.  A spokesperson for the Air Force stated that the military advises against certain breath-holding exercises or swimming underwater at length to avoid “shallow water blackout,” which can lead to drowning.

So that brings me back to my original point: What is with the stupid water games?  Dunking heads?  Listen, if you didn’t know before, now you know–you can blackout, even in shallow water, and you can drown.  You can have cardiac arrest like our two young countrymen who were both by all accounts in “excellent-shape.”  Don’t think it will happen to you?  This tragic story out of New York shows it can happy to anyone, even the most unlikely victims.  Don’t be foolish in the water.

Former Dodger Pitcher Jose Lima Dead

By On · Add Comment · In cardiac arrest, cocaine, coronary disease, drugs, Jose Lima, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League baseball

It’s Lima time no more.  Former Major League Baseball pitcher, Jose Lima was found dead at 6am this morning, an apparent victim of a cardiac arrest; he was 37.

The man famous for his on-field antics was found collapsed at his home by Pasadena paramedics at 6am Sunday morning.  His family says that he exhibited no signs of ill health, and he was out with them Saturday night and dancing later that evening.

Lima played thirteen years in the Major Leagues, pitching for Detroit, Houston, Kansas City and the New York Mets.  He pitched for Los Angeles in 2004 (his only season with the team), winning thirteen games and giving the Dodgers their first playoff victory since 1988.  Although often despised by opponents, teammates learned to love the high-energy hi-jinx of Lima, as they realized that was truly who he was.

“He was a showman, a hot dog. But he’d win games; and I think a lot of times, it wasn’t his ability but his ability to will himself to do it,” Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said. “In talking himself into it, I think he sort of intimidated some of the opposition too.”

Lima last season in the Majors was with New York in 2006.  He did a stint with some minor league teams, including Long Beach in 2009, with the hopes of being picked up by a big league club.  His agent Dan Evans told the Los Angeles Times, that despite being a tough transition for most players, Lima actually embraced it.

He is survived by his five children and a brother, Joel, a Dodgers minor league player, the Dodgers said. He was divorced. 

Well, you know what I think when young people drop dead of cardiac failure…cocaine.  There I said it.  I hope I’m wrong, but in the absence of some unknown heart dysrhythmia, drugs are probably to blame.  As an athlete, it’s unlikely that he had coronary disease.  With five children, a divorce, and end to his baseball career…well, it’s the most likely candidate in my estimation.  Call me crazy.

Anyway, an autopsy will be performed shortly, and the cause of death should be uncovered then.  Either way, we’ll miss Jose Lima–players like him make the game fun to watch.  RIP Lima Time.

Actress Britanny Murphy Found Dead

By On · Add Comment · In Brittany Murphy, cardiac arrest, cocaine, CPR, dead, eating disorder

Actress Brittany Murphy was found dead this morning apparently suffering from full cardiac arrest. The 32-year-old actress was found unconscious in the shower at 8 am by her mom. TMZ reports that her husband, Simon Monjack, called 911 and when paramedics arrived they were unable to revive her with CPR. Murphy was taken to Cedars Sinai where she was pronounced dead.

Sad news as the another celebrity passes in 2009. Murphy was star of such films as “8 Mile,” “Clueless,” and “Don’t say a Word.” A few years ago, she released the single “Faster Kill Pussycat,” which became a dance club hit.

Murphy was young enough that this smells of narcotics overdose to me. I could be wrong but young ladies are not typically susceptible to cardiac arrest, unless there is an underlying cardiac abnormality. Given her life as an actress and singer, I hate to say it, but…well, we’ll see.

An investigation is being launched. We’ll keep you informed.

*Update: Rumor has it that she was fired from a recent movie, The Caller, for, “being difficult,” a charge her agent denies, insisting she left the project due to “creative differences”. Apparently early in her career, she was accused of having an eating disorder which some believed was tied to a cocaine habit.

Sudden Death

By On · Add Comment · In cardiac arrest, catecholamines, cells, evolution, hormones, innate intelligence, police arrest, programmed cell death, suicide

A newly observed phenomenon is being reported which shows that some young men are dying suddenly following police arrest, and scientist believe that it may involve a mechanism similar to one to one that kills some animals in the wild. Man as wild animal expiring under extreme stress? You bet. Read on.

According to Dr. Manuel Martinez Selles of Madrid’s Hospital Gregorio Maranon, surges in blood levels of hormones–specifically catecholamines–may cause cardiac arrest. Interesting. Many wild animals also die suddenly when captured. Call it an evolutionary expiration mechanism if you will. But why?

The study looked at 60 cases of people who had died suddenly and unexpectedly after being arrested. Twenty had died at the point of arrest, while the rest died within 24 hours. All but one of the cases was male, their average age being 33. Only sudden deaths with no clear causes were included and autopsy reports were checked to exclude the possibility of mistreatment or past serious medical conditions. Twelve of the victims were drug users but Selles said this was not thought to have contributed to their deaths.

I find this story so interesting, because it illustrates the incredible innate intelligence of human body. Organism under severe stress, captured and compromised, expires suddenly. Cells do it, wild animals do it, and now we know that man also does it. Simply fascinating. This type of organismic suicide has most likely evolved to preserve the whole, that is other cells or other animals of the group. In cells, programmed cell death occurs to stop infection from spreading to other cells, and clearly this has passed on to more complex organisms.

What really gets my intellectual juices flowing is the notion that this phenomenon is just now being observed. I asked why. Why now? What is going on in society, with people, that this mechanism is turning on. Why haven’t we seen more of it before? Surely people have experienced extreme stress before today. Was it just that we weren’t paying attention? Was it that we only now have the tools, the diagnostics, the autopsy techniques to study this phenomena? Any thoughts?

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