What is the best means of reviving a person who has been rendered unconscious and apparently killed by electric shock?

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Resuscitation After Electric Shock

Q. What is the best means of reviving a person who has been rendered unconscious and apparently killed by electric shock?

A. It has long been known that the same methods which have been found useful after drowning or asphyxia from smoke are also ser­viceable and often successful in cases of electric shock. Artificial respiration by any of the sev­eral methods elsewhere described should be ap­plied at the earliest possible moment. The tongue should be pulled forward by seizing with a hand­kerchief or a bit of cloth, and should be held forward to keep the throat clear. If necessary the jaws are propped open by a thick fold of cloth or paper placed between the teeth.

The best means of applying artificial respiration is the pulmotor. This instrument should always be at hand where there is danger of injury from electric shock. The apparatus is automatic when once set in operation and is most efficient. It fills the lungs with oxygen and then empties the lungs and fills them again thus continuing until the supply of compressed oxygen is gone. The lung motor is a pump which may be used in a similar manner, but is somewhat less efficient.

Another measure which has recently been used with success is violent slapping of the feet with a stick without removing the shoes. Lifting the legs and trunk high as possible then dropping upon the ground, the head being left upon the ground, is another method which is said to be useful. It is well to be prepared to practice all these methods in succession or more or less simultaneously as none of them are infallible.

Suitable applications of water are also useful. Hot fomentations to the spine alternating every half minute with ice rubbing, may arouse the paralyzed centers of the spinal cord and thus aid in restoring normal action of the heart and lungs. Cold applications to the chest are also very useful. They should be short and accom­panied with slapping of the chest.

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