The Difference Between Cardiac Arrest and Heart Attack Is this Statement True?

Nurses General Nursing

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Explaining Cardiac Arrest and Heart Attacks. Once a Person is in Cardiac Arrest are you Clinically dead?

The heart is not shocked back into rhythm. It is shocked to a standstill in the midst of disorganised electrical activity, in the hopes of the heart picking up its natural rhythm again. That is why, in real life, there is no point in shocking a patient in flatline. Someone in cardiac arrest is already "dead". Also, the person will absolutely collapse, lose consciousness and stop breathing. A heart attack is decreased blood to a part of the heart muscle that then causes "death" of part of the heart tissue. A reduction in blood flow to a part of the heart does not necessarily mean the person will have a heart attack.

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Yujp. Jackson's heart stopped - arrested. He did not have a heart attack, which is tissue ischemia caused by an occlusion in an artery.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Cath Lab, Cardiology,Neuro.

I wanted to reach thru the TV set and slap the news reporters after a doctor EXPLAINED THE DIFFERENCE between cardiac arrest and a heart attack and how Michael Jackson had a cardiac arrest. Well the news anchor thanked the doctor and said "there you have it, Michael Jackson died of a heart attack" !

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Specializes in ICU.
Well the news anchor thanked the doctor and said "there you have it, Michael Jackson died of a heart attack" !

Don'cha just love the "news leeches"?

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The medical examiner where I work must be having a fit, lol.

As he has said many times "EVERYONE dies of a cardiac arrest. You're not dead if your heart is still beating!"

The REAL cause of death is what caused the heart to stop beating. He has the same issue with people saying someone died of respiratory arrest.

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Specializes in Telemetry, CCU.
The medical examiner where I work must be having a fit, lol.

As he has said many times "EVERYONE dies of a cardiac arrest. You're not dead if your heart is still beating!"

The REAL cause of death is what caused the heart to stop beating. He has the same issue with people saying someone died of respiratory arrest.

Haha, I'll even admit that when I heard Micheal Jackson died of cardiac arrest, I never thought of it as a blanket statement. When you put it that way, you can say every mystery death is caused by cardiac arrest, and yes, that avoids stating the cause of the arrest!

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Specializes in CT ICU, OR, Orthopedic.
Haha, I'll even admit that when I heard Micheal Jackson died of cardiac arrest, I never thought of it as a blanket statement. When you put it that way, you can say every mystery death is caused by cardiac arrest, and yes, that avoids stating the cause of the arrest!

Never thought of that either! Funny! True!

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Specializes in IMCU.
I wanted to reach thru the TV set and slap the news reporters after a doctor EXPLAINED THE DIFFERENCE between cardiac arrest and a heart attack and how Michael Jackson had a cardiac arrest. Well the news anchor thanked the doctor and said "there you have it, Michael Jackson died of a heart attack" !

Thank you me too. Also, there was some ignorant woman (CNN medical/science correspondent) who blethered on about comas -- some of the worst crapola I have ever heard.

I have a new respect for that Dr Sanjay Gupta. He was the only one who wasn't hysterically pumping garbage out of his mouth -- at least when I heard him.

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Specializes in Surgical Ward (Post Op).

I too like Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He seems to only say what is pertinent regarding the matter at hand. Unlike some others who just go on and on because they appear to like the sound of their own voice. They literally kill the subject and bore me to tears!

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Specializes in ICU.
They literally kill the subject and bore me to tears!

When that happens, is the subject truly dead, or has its heart just stopped?:D

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I was watching a rerun of Cold Case the other night. It was the one about the doctor that gets caught up in gambling and ends up being shot (I won't give away whodunit in case you haven't seen it). Anyway, the doc is an ED doc, and there's a patient on a stretcher with a cardiac monitor attached to him. The patient is in asystole, so the doc grabs some paddles and shocks the guy back into NSR. Sigh.

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Specializes in Surgical Ward (Post Op).

lol not sure!

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