Must We Always Use CPR?

Abstract

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as we know it today came into being after the invention of closed-chest cardiac massage in 1960.¹ This technique was originally developed for victims of sudden cardiac or respiratory arrest. As the introduction to one monograph on CPR, written in 1965, says, "The techniques described in this monograph are designed to resuscitate the victim of acute insult, whether it be from drowning, electrical shock, untoward effect of drugs, anesthetic accident, heart block, acute MI [myocardial infarction] or surgery."² At present, however, it is standard practice to attempt CPR on any patient in the hospital who has a . . .