Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report: Captain Suffers a Heart Attack at a Structure Fire and Dies 12 Days Later in Illinois.

摘要

On July 23, 1998, a 56-year-old male Captain responded to a fully-involved structure fire. After stretching a 250-foot section of 2 1/2-inch hoseline and attacking the fire, the Captain experienced crushing substernal chest pain. He walked to the on-scene ambulance, where paramedics initiated treatment for a heart attack and transported him to the hospital. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, the Captain had a cardiac arrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS) resuscitation efforts were successful, and an intravenous thrombolytic agent (tissue plasminogen activator) was given. The next day the Captain underwent a cardiac catheterization which showed severe coronary artery disease (CAD) and a stent was placed in the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. He was discharged 5 days later to undergo coronary artery bypass surgery at some point in the future. On August 4, 1998, at approximately 1800 hours, the Captain had a witnessed cardiac arrest while recovering at home. Despite CPR and ALS administered by the ambulance paramedics and by hospital personnel in the emergency department, the Captain died. The death certificate, completed by the County Coroner, listed myocardial infarction (otherwise known as a heart attack) as the immediate cause of death, due to severe atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The autopsy, performed by the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, showed a large heart (cardiomegaly), severe coronary artery disease (CAD), and evidence of old and recent myocardial infarctions.