Echoing all that was said here.First off, thank you for trying to help. These kind acts keep society alive despite political posturing and divisiveness in social media.As hard as it is to imagine and as difficult it is to go about your routine, inaction would be far more paralyzing. You did everything that you could in his time of need. I have had similar instances in my career in the ED and this same message was relayed to me early in my career: We can only do everything we can do and nothing more. At the end of the day, you gave him a chance. If no one did anything, he would have died. You gave him a chance.I cant speak to exactly what happened, but respiratory arrest is essentially saying that he stopped breathing. That could imply severe asthma, anaphylaxis/allergic reaction or even cardiac arrest (eg, I had a 42 yo MI in a patient just today). Or pulmonary hypertension.I wouldnt rule out overdose. Narcotic addiction has almost never been higher and is one of the leading cause of death of young people. I pulled someone out of their car unresponsive, cyanotic last week for the exact same reason.I trained in one of the most severe areas of narcotics in the US, Kensington in Philly. Its everywhere and a daily occurance. An opioid addicts life has been replaced with daily struggle to obtain narcotics or suffer debilitating withdrawal that few ever want to experience in their lives ever again. Its said that alcohol withdrawal can kill you; narcotic withdrawal makes you wish you were dead.Fortunately, there is help. Suboxone and other treatments can help to replace their addiction with an extremely safe and effective alternative. Its unfortunate that this happened and likely could have been well known by the family. I have had this converation far too often in my career. Parents who performed CPR on their child as they were holding their grandchild in their lap on christmas morning, the daughter who could no longer struggle and overdosed on every pill in the house and the 15 year old who is going to gift of life after found in the rear of the bus. Family are expecting that someday that they will get a phonecall - they just dont know when.The carfentanyl that is used in place of heroin is deadly for anyone who cant fight their addiction and relapse, only to find that the ford taurus of narcotics was replaced with a tractor-trailer. And its often too late. Methadone can be used, and maybe used by some on the street or for pain control, but its hallmark is that your breathing is stopped often before pain control. And it has some of these cardiac effects that were mentioned regarding hydroxychloroquine.Narcan is a medication that is widely utilized. It reverses their apnea (lack of breathing/respiratory arrest). But its temporary. Sometimes ingestions can rebound and the effects can wear offI trust that you did everything you can.If this continues to haunt you, in addition to asking your family doctor for a referral to someone to speak to regarding your experience, ask for a prescription for narcan. Even our local libraries carry some. Keep some in your bag. Speak out, see if there are groups in your area that you can support financially or otherwise. Reach out to the family that was involved. Addiction is often a genetic process. Finally, if you have your own kids, be aware that opioid addiction can happen...especially those with addiction tendencies. It can happen with as few as 12 pills.Best of luck. And again - thank you for all that you do!
NAD, Im a 911 dispatcher. The fact that EMS was able to get a pulse back means you and your neighbor did the right things and did your absolute best to give him a fighting chance. Unfortunately, sometimes no matter what you do, its not enough and its too late. So many times, cardiac arrest calls we take end with EMS doing CPR until getting to the hospital, and the hospital calling it shortly after. Perhaps your quick action gave his family time to see him a last time and say goodbye. I hope you find peace and comfort... and even just a few sessions of therapy can provide such a huge benefit toward professing things like this.