These survival rates are much better than those occurring in cardiac arrests outside of hospitals.

Many physicians assume that the vast majority of adult cardiac arrests in hospitals are from sudden arrhythmias, and life-support protocols reflect this assumption. Our findings show that progressive respiratory failure and shock is more common than arrhythmia in adults, and in such cases, emergency procedures should focus on breathing problems.

Our findings suggest that CPR may currently succeed more often than physicians commonly believe.

It's not uncommon in this county for existing hospitals not to have enough beds, and we're not even into flu season yet. Anybody who is opposed to a new facility is outright saying that they don't see the bed shortage as a real issue.

We've had to see patients in the hall, and every shift we call hospitals to see what their availability is. The answer almost uniformly is that they're full.

His chances of survival are better than if the respiratory center had been damaged, but that still doesn't mean he's going to survive.