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4 answers

A pacemaker is actually used to send an electrical impulse into the heart tissue in order to make either the atria, ventricles, or both, contract. If you were to go without oxygen thereby killing off the heart muscle, the pacer would continue to sense (send off an electrical signal) but it wouldn't capture(the dead heart tissue would not respond to the signal), thereby causing death. Without the heart pumping blood, oxygen does not reach vital areas of your body, like the brain. Imagine a rescue worker coming upon a man just pulled out of the pool....do they stop to see if he has a pacemaker before they begin CPR? No, they immediately begin it. Your heart can also beat on its own while having a pacemaker. These beats are called intrinsic beats, and people with pacemakers can still have potentially bad heart rhythms.

2006-10-06 15:34:22 · answer #1 · answered by alysia_82_2000 2 · 1 0

Interesting question. Yesterday we received a man in our ER and the paramedics were only giving ventilation by mask. They didn't do chest compressions because according to them the man had a "heart beat" looking at their heart monitor it sure looked like good heart rhythm with a heart rate in the sixties. However it was the pacemaker firing at the rate it was supposed to at sixty. When I checked for a pulse there was none. So to answer your question when doing CPR if you don't feel a pulse then do chest compression pacemaker or not.

2006-10-06 17:49:07 · answer #2 · answered by Tias 3 · 0 0

a pacemaker only helps a heart along to keep the beat at the correct pace, if you drown and lose oxygen your heart will stop and the pace maker wont have anything to pace.

2006-10-06 15:04:58 · answer #3 · answered by georganne 3 · 0 0

With CPR, the purpose of the compressions isn't just to jumpstart the heart, it's the expell air from the lungs too. Treat him like you would anybody else.

2006-10-06 15:04:40 · answer #4 · answered by Brian 3 · 0 0

If he is dead, his heart will stop but the pacemaker will still be working.

2006-10-06 15:02:21 · answer #5 · answered by lazycat 3 · 0 0

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