Even After Death, Heart Attack Treatment May Not End

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Dr. Kathleen Schrank, a professor of medicine and chief of emergency medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine -- and also an EMS medical director for Miami Fire Rescue -- said she agrees that barriers to stopping resuscitation exist.

Public perception that most people survive a cardiac arrest is a particular problem, Schrank said.

"Families have not only the hope but the expectation that their loved one is going to survive," she said. "They think that the emergency department has more to offer than what EMS can do."

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She pointed out, though, that exceptions to stopping resuscitation do exist -- including children and pregnant women, in cases where the fetus might survive.

But Schrank noted that every situation is different and that paramedics and the doctors they're communicating with via radio need to be sensitive as they prepare family members to accept that their loved one has died and need not be taken to a hospital.

By American Heart Association guidelines, a decision to stop resuscitation should be based on clinical judgment and respect for human dignity. Also, stopping lifesaving efforts should be approved by a doctor who is in contact with paramedics by radio, the guidelines say.

"Most families, when they see all the things a rescue crew goes through trying to save a person in cardiac arrest, usually do recognize that everything was done," Schrank said.

More information

The American Heart Association has more on cardiac arrest.

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