[NEWS] Man told to give addict mouth-to-mouth

[Flexistentialist]

^ In an an opiate overdose, respiratory depression comes first and then causes the heart to stop. If you catch an opiate OD soon enough (eg while they're blue but still have a pulse), all you need to do is breath for them and their heart will keep beating. The heart stops once there is no oxygen left and pumping away at this point is useless. The CPR guidelines which talk about compressions only are for heart attacks, not opiate overdose.

 

[ayjay]

Yeah Flex is right. The national resus guidelines are a reflection of the fact that, in the majority of emergency cases where someone has stopped breathing, they have had a heart attack. Commencing CPR as soon as possible maximises survival chances. As it happens, compressions will suck enough air in and out of someones lungs to do the job of mouth to mouth anyway.

From a duty of care point of view, you really need to do what you have been trained to do. Anyone who has received resus training in Australia since 2006 will have been trained to go straight to CPR if someone not breathing. It will revive someone who has had an opioid overdose.