'Cough CPR' won't fend off heart attack

Maybe you’ve seen the email or a Facebook posting. A friend of mine sent it to me as a potential subject for an article. It claims to be important information for everyone to know in the event that they have a heart attack while alone.

Little did my friend know that the information was wrong, really wrong.

The email says that if “suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to drag out into your arm and up into your jaw … you should start coughing repeatedly and vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.”

For the rest of the column, see the print edition of the Bonner County Daily Bee or subscribe to our e-edition.