Learn From the Mistakes of Others

A very interesting article came out recently: noted firearms instructor Greg Ellifritz published an article on October 18, 2022 on Real Talk About Dead Bodies. Reading the article reminded me of something: 

A little over 10 years ago, my brother came home from work and found our mother unresponsive. At the direction of the 911 operator, he performed CPR. He did not know she had already passed. 

With some people, if it goes through their brain, it comes out of their mouth... or fingertips. No thoughts at all.  An individual with whom I'd had taken some exception decided to make a mocking post on his blog. 

Among what he wrote:

"The only time I've ever seen a dead body in person is at a funeral, but I'm pretty sure if I saw someone who had been dead for hours, certain signs would clue me that they were dead. No, I don't mean "No pulse" or "Not breathing" because the person might have had something happen within a few minutes of me finding them in that state and could possibly be revived. I mean something more obvious, like blue skin, blueish lips--you know, things that let you know the body hasn't gotten oxygen in a good, long time. I'm pretty sure most people would not have to be told that a person in that condition isn't coming back from it."

Of course, the insanity is denoted in the first sentence, "I've never seen XXX, but I would know if I saw" is the statement of the person who simply doesn't know what he doesn't know. Total ignorance. 

Back to what Ellifritz wrote. Of note, there are three phrases written in the article, and my notes on them as I read the article:

"Many of the dead people I found had faces contorted into a horrible grimace of pain."

It is perfectly natural to want to help someone who is obviously in pain. Especially when instructed to do so by the 911 operator. But doodle-britches above wanted to show how "smart" he was... and like your typical gamma, he revealed his lack of intelligence. 

"If paramedics came to the scene, they likely intubated the patient, started an IV, and attempted defibrillation."

Wait - what's that? Paramedics try to save people who might already be dead? But surely paramedics have seen dead bodies before. In surveying two good friends who are practicing paramedics, both have seen hundreds of dead bodies. With the freshly dead, they both say it is nearly impossible to tell until they take vitals and the results come back negative... like the IQ of the battle-blogger above. 

"People occasionally release their bowels shortly before or after death. They often regurgitate as well, especially if the body has been moved postmortem or had CPR performed."

It is not uncommon at all to perform CPR on someone who has technically already passed. It is, after all, an emergency technique to save lives. The only lives that need saving are those in perilous danger, by definition. 

Ten years ago, I knew well the insanity of what was posted on the other blog. There was no need to battle blog the post. That said, it has been nearly 10 years since the last post there, and the internet is forever. So might as well use his stupidity to help others moving forward.