25 February
2018
Curious minds want to know…
Legendary movie actress from India – Sridevi had an untimely demise. While I am not into movies, even I knew of her. Certainly she was famous enough that news of her demise made it to the New York Times.
But apart from the sadness of such a young life lost, I have a pet peeve. Why do news channels report that “so and so died of a sudden cardiac arrest”. ?
What do you mean “sudden” cardiac arrest? Since when have cardiac arrests been taking appointments? Aren’t all cardiac arrest sudden? What is the origin of such use?
My view. It’s a transferred epithet. The sudden refers to the suddenness of the news.
More like unexpected, I think
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sudden-cardiac-arrest
Let me offer my 2c. Cardiac arrest could be sudden [meaning often leading to quick death] or gradual, as in people can suffer a heart attack and not even notice it much or sometimes ignore it and go about but face the consequences of ignoring it over time, or anywhere in between. Analogous to an engine that has a clogged exhaust pipe or a clogged fuel inlet pipe, sputtering but still working vs. completely shutting down. Sridevi was one of the best actresses of this century, and was part of my memories as I was growing up, she will never be forgotten.
Ok. It so seems Heart attacks are not sudden since symptoms show up well before in most cases. But cardiac arrest is almost always sudden but nevertheless is termed as sudden cardiac arrest
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/AboutHeartAttacks/Heart-Attack-or-Sudden-Cardiac-Arrest-How-Are-They-Different_UCM_440804_Article.jsp#.WpMyOXVuaV4
That would make sense sine the heart attack is about the heart muscle not getting oxygen. Cardiac arrest is when the heart just quits pumping any more. There is only one way – sudden. (Often heart attack can lead to cardiac arrest)
Google search reveals “A heart attack is when blood flow to the heart is blocked, and sudden cardiac arrest is when the heart malfunctions and suddenly stops beating unexpectedly. A heart attack is a “circulation” problem and sudden cardiac arrest is an “electrical” problem.”. Interesting, I learnt something new today.
I put this in the same category as “tomato ketchup” (at least in modern usage)
It’s also to emphasise seems like esp. when there is no history of any heart ailment – Indian Style !
It’s a medical term
When it’s a young person without history I imagine we use the word sudden.
Over dose of alcohol
Suranjan, Do we know that for a fact?
Turning out to be a mysterious episode, is what I see. Definitely something fishy.
According to the death certificate it says “accidental drawning”, what ever that means. The typo is not mine.
Yeah! I am ready to go on to a tirade of aren’t all drowning accidental? Actually that is not true… it could be homicidal too
Autopsy say so
Autopsy says overdose? or “traces of alcohol?”
Overdose
Khaleej times say so
Disease is ‘mon kharap’
I think it says, more like traces of alcohol.
Call record will the tone will say more
If at all retrieved
Apparently, she “drawned” #ndtv
My 2 c: the subject didn’t have a history of heart problems, so it was ‘sudden’! On the other hand, if the subject was ailing for some time, then it obviously was not sudden!