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In the past I’ve mentioned a few of the goofy email hoaxes some of our co-workers have fallen for, flooding the postal email system with dire warnings about terrorists dressed as UPS men, or amazing cash giveaways from Microsoft that have somehow been overlooked by the media, but that you can get in on if you just forward the offer to everyone on your mailing list!

Today’s email, however, brought a hoax email that really wasn’t funny at all- in fact, it could kill you. This one had as its subject: “Heart Attack Slide Show- What To Do If You’re Alone”. The text of the email said “The American Heart Association includes this presentation in their Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training. Thought it was worth passing on.”

Fair enough- I’m old enough to have pondered exactly what I would do if I was, say, driving to work alone in my car, and felt sudden chest pains and the rest. Usually it involves my cell phone and the numbers 911, and keeping some aspirin in the glove box.

But no, the supposedly official presentation (which is surprisingly amateurish for something supposedly produced by a major national medical organization) suggests instead that you “start coughing repeatedly and vigorously”! There’s more, but it’s basically cough every two seconds “without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is beating normally again.” No mention of calling 911.

The next slide explains how the process works, getting oxygen into your lungs, and squeezing the heart to keep your blood circulating. It also refers you to the source of the information, an article “published on N.O 240 of Journal of General Hospital Rochester”.

At this point in the presentation I was more than a little skeptical. The last slide sounded the alarm bells, though- it included not one, but two admonitions to “send this to as many people as possible!”.

But the presentation was supposed to be from the American Heart Association, and it had some kind of reference to Rochester General Hospital, so I decided to check those references out.

Googling the words cough and cpr together brings you immediately to a page on the American Heart Association’s web site entitled “Cough CPR”. The first paragraph reads :

The American Heart Association does not endorse “cough CPR,” a coughing procedure widely publicized on the Internet. As noted in the 2005 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care, the American Heart Association DOES NOT TEACH THIS AS PART OF THE CORE CURRICULUM IN ANY COURSE.

The Heart Association page goes on to describe the theory behind “cough CPR”, but concludes “the usefulness of “cough CPR” is generally limited to monitored patients with a witnessed arrest in the hospital setting.”

OK. So what does the American Heart Association suggest you do if you’re driving down the road by yourself and feel the onset of a heart attack?

The best strategy is to be aware of the early warning signs for heart attack and cardiac arrest and respond to them by calling 9-1-1. If you’re driving alone and you start having severe chest pain or discomfort that starts to spread into your arm and up into your jaw (the scenario presented in the Internet article), pull over and flag down another motorist for help or phone 9-1-1 on a cellular telephone.

No coughing. Just what common sense had already told you you should do.

But wait- what about that journal article from Rochester General Hospital?

Not surprisingly, the hospital has had to post a page on its website to deal with inquiries from this email. Here’s what it says:

Hundreds of people around the country have been receiving an e-mail message entitled “How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone.” This article recommends a procedure to survive a heart attack in which the victim is advised to repeatedly cough at regular intervals until help arrives.

The source of information for this article was attributed to ViaHealth Rochester General Hospital. This article is being propagated on the Internet as individuals send it to friends and acquaintances - and then those recipients of the memo send it to their friends and acquaintances, and so on.

We can find no record that an article even resembling this was produced by Rochester General Hospital within the last 20 years. Furthermore, the medical information listed in the article can not be verified by current medical literature and is in no way condoned by this hospital’s medical staff. Also, both The Mended Hearts, Inc., a support organization for heart patients, and the American Heart Association have said that this information should not be forwarded or used by anyone.

Please help us combat the proliferation of this misinformation. We ask that you please send this e-mail to anyone who sent you the article, and please ask them to do the same.

Moral of the story? Medical breakthroughs and life saving techniques are not likely to surface first in anonymous emails that beg you to copy them to everyone you know. Fortunately, the speed and pervasiveness of the Internet, which make it so easy to spread dangerous misinformation, also make it easier to disprove that misinformation. You just have to take a few minutes to look around.

Unfortunately, the person who sent me this particular email was unimpressed by the denials of the American Heart Association and the Rochester General Hospital. I even pointed her to the sad history of this hoax, which originated in 1999, and is available on Snopes.com.

Her response? Was she embarrassed to have spread false medical advice? Was she worried that someone might die because they took her advice and started coughing instead of calling for help?

Not at all. Here’s her reply, in its entirety:

“Okay, thanks. I did run it by our CPR instructor, who’s an EMT, and he assured me it was legit.”

They’re out there!

United States Attorney Dunn Lampton announced that Jessica Sade Delaine, of Cuba,
Alabama, was sentenced on January 31st to serve 8 months in prison, followed by two years of
supervised release, for interfering with an employee of the United States while that person was
engaged in the performance of his official duties. Delaine was also ordered to pay a fine in the
amount of $1,500.00.

On September 27, 2007, Jessica Delaine was working as a U.S. Postal employee at the
Meridian Main Post Office, located at 2100 9th Street, Meridian, Mississippi, when she got into a
verbal argument with her supervisor. Eventually, the supervisor requested that Delaine clock off
work and leave the premises. Approximately 45 minutes later, she entered the Meridian Main
Post Office, revealed a pistol to her co-workers, and told them she was going to wait by an office
building and shoot her supervisor when he left work. After talking to her, Delaine’s co-workers
convinced her to leave the premises. Delaine was arrested on September 28, 2007, and pled
guilty to the crime on November 21, 2007. This case was investigated by Postal Inspector
Dwayne Martin of the United States Postal Inspection Service, and prosecuted by Assistant
United States Attorney Jerry Abdalla.