A DEVICE akin to an inflatable sleeping bag could make the difference between life and death after a heart attack. Called a “shock sheet”, it works by squeezing blood out of the legs, which boosts blood flow to the heart and brain.
If the heart stops beating – a cardiac arrest – brain damage can start after just a few minutes. When medics reach the patient they use defibrillators to shock the heart into restarting. If that fails, they try cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which involves manually pumping the patient’s heart and inflating the lungs. But CPR delivers only 10 to 15…
