What a Way to Go!

A British doctor on a skiing holiday in Europe went to assist a man who had collapsed at the top of the mountain. She was helped by two German nurses, one British nurse (pediatrics), and a French dentist. However, the international team was stymied by the lack of a defibrillator in the first aid room. An emergency helicopter with a defibrillator arrived within 8 minutes, and the patient was transferred to the local hospital. But that didn’t stop the doctor writing to the British Medical Journal, calling for local authorities to place defibrillators at the top of ski mountains.

I don’t agree with her at all. A friend of mine, in his 70s, was an avid skier who was, in fact, losing the strength in his legs; he was going to have to give the sport up. One day he had a heart attack sitting on the ski lift, and was dead when he hit the ground. We all said, “What a way to go!”

That may seem a flippant remark, but think about it, a bit. An instantly lethal heart attack, at a time when you are doing something you greatly enjoy, may be much more preferable than a diagnosis of cancer, leading to surgery, chemotherapy, and maybe a painful end. Recovery from fibrillation at the age of 70+ is quite likely to be followed by the need for cardiac catheterization, stent placement or other interventions, secondary preventive medications, and the knowledge that another heart attack (or angina) is lurking somewhere in the future. Maybe having a fatal MI on a ski lift isn’t such a bad ending . . .