General Discussion

Sometimes called 'The Widowmaker'.

Bleeds out into body center, slowly depriving brain of O2 until brain shuts off the whole system. There was a bit of time between feeling something very wrong and losing consciousness then brain death. He still had a pulse when EMS arrived and they kept working en route and at the ER, but the brain was not getting the blood and O2, brain already gone and wouldn't restart heart/lungs.

A friend also died that way.

Friend died in Helena, Montana just after the state's 911 system went from local operators to a central location in Billings, ("cost saving&quot a couple hundred miles + away. Most people didn't know of the change yet. My friend's wife didn't know she was speaking to someone in Billings. Billings operator didn't know she had someone in Helena on the line, sent her local EMS team to the address given address, but in the wrong city.

His wife blamed herself for EMS not getting to the house 'in time' She did CPR for an hour before Billings 911 realized the mistake, sent call to Helena and that local EMS team finally got to her door. Doctor who did autopsy told her there would have been nothing they could do if he had been on an operating table when it happened (40 years ago). But, of course, she still thought she should have been able to save him.

I know the feeling.