The Fight • Hacker News Board

Re: The Fight

#11

Post by rickdale » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:37 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #3

It's all good, but if you haven't had a close relative or a close friend die or come close to it, then no amount of preaching - Live now! Fight the momentum! Live it to the fullest! - is going to do any good. You have to experience it, unfortunately there's no other way. My dad died suddenly two years ago. Just like that - here he is, poof, here he is not. I tried to capture the feelings in a written form and then ha…

Going on 10 years, similar experience. People don't understand how much suddenness of the death affects you. What I have come to realize is that there is no right way to deal with people dealing with death. And that everyone will deal with death differently. I remember at my dad's funeral stuff the number one line I heard from people was, "if you ever need anything..." I didn't know what that meant then, or now. But its a good line.

As a side note, I was in AP comp sci at the time with only 4 other students. Our teacher was an ex marine computer programming since the punch card days and really strict and emotionless. My indian friend that was in the class with me said that it was so sad and quiet in class the next day that they could hear the teachers heartbeat. I'll never forget that line.

Re: The Fight

#12

Post by smoyer » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:39 PM UTC

pdx wrote: post #5

For those of you who haven't had a CPR refresher in a few years, they now heavily promote the use of AED's [Automated external defibrillator]. The prognosis for recovery after CPR alone is in the single digits and moves well, well into the double digits if supplemented with an AED. Gyms, schools, and works areas should all have a $1000.00 AED onsite. I was surprised that he had to wait for the ambulance to arrive bef…

This is so true ... I lost a cousin at a young age due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy induced cardiac arrest and he could have been saved with an AED (simply restoring a normal rhythm). If you're interested in helping to promote the availability of AEDs in the U.S., check out http://gregaed.org/. If you do nothing else, learn CPR, artificial respiration and how to use an AED. You don't know who you'll end up helping (and hopefully you'll never use it) but you might also save someone's family a lot of suffering.

Thanks!

Re: The Fight

#13

Post by vitalique » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:44 PM UTC

phren0logy wrote: post #2

It's only trite because it needs to be repeated so often.

Yes and no. This is a very personal, very delicate subject, almost impossible to be expressed in or understood from a single random post at a random blog. Sadly, constant repetition of this particular appeal usually leads to cheap, bleak, even personally and socially irresponsible substitutions like YOLO movement that have very little in common with the level of awareness and appreciation of being alive that OP has acquired (and lost, and acquired again).

Re: The Fight

#14

Post by noonespecial » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:45 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #10

grannyg00se wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the legalities involved here? If you attempt to help are you opening yourself up to potential blame and legal action? What about DNR wishes the person may or may not have, or religious beliefs?

This is the current federal law on the subject: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/search/display.html?terms=... Basically, you are immune from liability unless you either: 1) are a licensed professional acting within the scope of your employment, in which case normal professional liability rules would apply; or 2) do something that a court finds grossly negligent.

Unfortunately, it may cost you quite a bit of time and money to convince said court that what you did was not grossly negligent should someone press the issue.

Re: The Fight

#15

Post by rmc » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:48 PM UTC

pdx wrote: post #5

For those of you who haven't had a CPR refresher in a few years, they now heavily promote the use of AED's [Automated external defibrillator]. The prognosis for recovery after CPR alone is in the single digits and moves well, well into the double digits if supplemented with an AED. Gyms, schools, and works areas should all have a $1000.00 AED onsite. I was surprised that he had to wait for the ambulance to arrive bef…

Remember things like this when people complain about "modern Health and Safety red tape". "Oh we need to have a this and a that and failed out inspection! Get off our back, let me create jobs."

This shit saves lives.

Re: The Fight

#16

Post by rmc » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:49 PM UTC

grannyg00se wrote: post #6

pdx wrote: post #5

For those of you who haven't had a CPR refresher in a few years, they now heavily promote the use of AED's [Automated external defibrillator]. The prognosis for recovery after CPR alone is in the single digits and moves well, well into the double digits if supplemented with an AED. Gyms, schools, and works areas should all have a $1000.00 AED onsite. I was surprised that he had to wait for the ambulance to arrive bef…

What are the legalities involved here? If you attempt to help are you opening yourself up to potential blame and legal action? What about DNR wishes the person may or may not have, or religious beliefs?

I suppose if you think it's better that the person dies than you get sued...

Re: The Fight

#17

Post by tomhoward » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:50 PM UTC

It's a great post, but to me there's another message that Dustin - understandably - hasn't focused on: "perfect health" is often (usually?) an illusion.

Given what I've learned about health in recent years, I can't accept that this guy really was in perfect health; if he was, he wouldn't have suffered a major cardiac arrest while simply jogging on a treadmill.

I think it's mostly a failure of modern medicine and modern attitudes towards health that most of us walk around feeling and looking like we're in "perfect" health, only to find all too late that a severe condition was lurking undetected.

The answers may lie in fields like Quantified Self [1], or PG's suggestion of Ongoing diagnosis [2].

But whatever the case, we're only just starting to scratch the surface of an area that I think this post demonstrates is hugely important.

[1] http://quantifiedself.com/

[2] http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html

Re: The Fight

#18

Post by subsystem » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:53 PM UTC

pdx wrote: post #5

For those of you who haven't had a CPR refresher in a few years, they now heavily promote the use of AED's [Automated external defibrillator]. The prognosis for recovery after CPR alone is in the single digits and moves well, well into the double digits if supplemented with an AED. Gyms, schools, and works areas should all have a $1000.00 AED onsite. I was surprised that he had to wait for the ambulance to arrive bef…

Definitely, there's really no excuse if you're a company. If nothing else it's a moral booster for the employees. I really wish AEDs would get even cheaper so they became ubiquitous outside of work.

In Stockholm there's this system which enables emergence services to send out alerts to people with the proper training and/or equipment in the area of a heart failure.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4740974

Re: The Fight

#19

Post by Jare » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 7:55 PM UTC

pdx wrote: post #9

grannyg00se wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the legalities involved here? If you attempt to help are you opening yourself up to potential blame and legal action? What about DNR wishes the person may or may not have, or religious beliefs?

Nobody wants to live in a world where people find a dying person laying on the floor and let him die because they're afraid of legal issues. The law protects you from such nonsense. Even if it didn't, in my opinion, no person worth a damn would allow that consideration to color their response.

A few months ago there was an incident in China where a young girl was run over by a truck while crossing a street. Nobody stepped in to help, precisely because they were afraid of the legal consequences. The entire thing was recorded on video, and it got a lot of exposure. It was horrific, the kind of thing one wishes you had never seen or heard about.

On the other hand, and thankfully this was a much minor event, my wife once got a traffic ticket for moving her car a few meters past a red light in order to make room for an ambulance. Something like that is enough to make you think twice.

Re: The Fight

#20

Post by jgrahamc » Sun, Nov 04, 2012, 8:03 PM UTC

Some time ago I came across an elderly man in some difficulty lying in the street in London. While waiting for an ambulance he 'died' (no heart beat, no respiration, no signs of life at all, blue lips and gums) and I immediately did CPR on him until the ambulance arrived. Months later I learnt that he survived.

Any brush with death makes you seriously think about your own mortality. I know that watching this stranger's eyes go dead was quite life changing for me.