Paramedics Often Transport Patients with No Chance for Survival

Paramedic protocols often allow for termination of resuscitation in the field for futile cases of cardiac arrest. Researchers retrospectively analyzed compliance with newly introduced termination-of-resuscitation protocols during a 3.5-year period in a single emergency medical services system.

Of 235 eligible adult patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (43 traumatic and 192 nontraumatic), 131 (56%) met criteria for field termination of resuscitation but were transported to a hospital anyway. All 131 patients died in the emergency department or hospital. The protocol violation rate was 63% for traumatic cardiac arrest (23 cases of blunt trauma and 4 of penetrating trauma) and 54% for nontraumatic arrest. Reasons for the protocol violat…