I would love to see one example where someone was prevented from doing CPR by a bystander because “you shouldn’t be touching that woman”. I would put money that it has never happened.
Whether it’s happened or not, you’re also running into two big problems America has:
- People who act without thinking
- People with a hero fantasy, and also often a gun
It doesn’t have to have happened for people to fear that it will. In a nation where too many people carry guns, act rashly, and want to see their face on the news as a local hero, it just sounds too damn possible and risky.
Modern CPR training insists yiu have to announce what the fuck you’re doing because people will universally get the wrong idea.
You have no modesty when you’re dying- the underwire in a bra interferes with AEDs working, and the pads have to be on skin. For compressions you need to see where you are so you are, so the clothes come off.
It’s standard to drill that in, precise cause it has happened.
Hell. We’ve heard anecdotes of cops coming in and macing people giving CPR. People frequently assume the worst and act on it.
Modern CPR training insists that you have to announce what the fuck you’re doing because that’s the standard of communication during an emergency. When we’re running a code in the hospital, we announce our actions to the room, so everyone knows what’s going on. That’s just how it’s done
In a hospital.
When it’s a security guard whose probably going to be the only one taking action, because they’re the only one there that has any amount of training, that’s an entirely different scenario.
Or the coach or the teacher or whoever it is. CPR isn’t just done by doctors and paramedics, and there absolutely are plenty of lawsuits and accusations that come from people in the field misunderstanding what’s going on.
Outside a hospital, when a body hits the ground it’s chaos and confusion.
