In The World: Breath of life
In India a few years ago, a 30-year-old farmer was admitted to a hospital in the city of Lucknow, and over the next few days developed paralysis that prevented him from being able to breathe on his own. The kind of mechanical ventilator that would be used in most major medical facilities to keep him alive wasn’t available, but the hospital did have a bag-valve mask — a small, inexpensive plastic medical hand pump that could be used to force air carefully into the patient’s lungs. The farmer’s mother and brother took turns, squeezing the device 15 times a minute nonstop for 18 full days and nights, which kept him alive until a mechanical ventilator became available. Thirty days after being admitted to the hospital, the patient recovered enough to be weaned off the ventilator, and two weeks later he was sent home.This is thought to be a record for...