Hacker News Reader

Comment by JulianMorrison | Hacker News Reader

I don't believe "someone else is going to help so why bother" is the real reason.

My candidate: social awkwardness and feelings of inadequacy. "Is this real? If I'm the only one making a fuss I'll look like an idiot. Oh please let someone else take the first step so it won't be everyone looking to me for direction. I don't know what I'm doing. Help, how do I CPR?" Often combined with a fear for personal safety. "Will the car explode? Will the bus fall on me? Is the drunk guy going to stab me if I touch him? Or infectious? Or about to vomit when I do rescue breaths? Will I go to jail if I get it wrong and he dies? Isn't it better to not involve myself?"

View on HN

This makes sense.

A few years ago, I was out smoking in front of my office building (I've since quit, by the way), and I started to hear a woman scream "Somebody help me!" and "Get away from me!".

I started reaching for my phone, thinking of calling 911, but I was paralyzed by thoughts like "I can't even tell what direction her voice is coming from, so what am I going to tell the cops?" and "What if the screams stop before the police get here and they don't find anything? I could be arrested for calling in a false alarm!". It was eating at me... I felt guilty for not calling the cops, but I was too paralyzed with fear to actually call them.

Fortunately, a minute or two later, I saw her. She was standing on the street corner with nobody near her, and she was shouting at the cars on the road. She then switched up her words, shouting "What's wrong with you? Every day I scream for help and you all just keep driving by!". Turns out she was just a crazy person. I felt relieved there... and I suddenly felt much less guilty for not trying to help her.

'Crazy' people need help too.

True, but a different type of help.

Dialing 911 (in the US) is still an avenue to getting that help.

If they were a clear and present danger to themselves or others, sure. Yelling at cars on the street doesn't hit that level, though.

Calling 9/11 on a person with mental issues is liable to get them shot.

There is that possibility, though some areas will have an emergency medical / mental health response.

That said, do you have a better suggestion?

I seem to recall that last bit being a reason in china, some guy took legal action against someone who gave him cpr and broke his ribs and won.

edited, because I'd misremembered this and having bad medical knowledge floating around is to be avoided. I originally said:

According to Breaking Bad they don't do that compression bit in CPR anymore.

But in actuality, it's the mouth to mouth bit that Breaking Bad mentioned as not being current advice. But the link provided in a reply below, suggests that it is still recommended in certain circumstances, infants and young children for example.

Another in-depth treatment is here on Quora:

http://www.quora.com/Is-CPR-no-longer-taught-as-requiring-mo...

That is wrong.

Hands-Only CPR is CPR without mouth-to-mouth breaths. It is recommended for use by people who see a teen or adult suddenly collapse in an “out-of-hospital” setting (such as at home, at work or in a park).

It consists of two easy steps: Call 9-1-1 (or send someone to do that). Push hard and fast in the center of the chest. [1]

[1] http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/HandsOnlyCPR/LearnMo...

Broke his ribs? My wife, a critical care cardiac nurse, tells me that if you're doing it right then it is very likely that you will break ribs when giving CPR.

I have had CPR training on one of those dolls. Probably half of the class broke rips and I broke probably all the ribs in both sides.

It's very sad, the amount of apathy in China nowadays is unbelievable.

I don't know the exact time when the tide start to shift, but I remember people were much less litigious in the early/mid 90s. It took less than 20 years for a society to make such dramatic shift.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com