What Damar Hamlin’s Collapse Taught us About Cardiac Arrest

In early January, Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest — when the heart stops abruptly with little or no warning — shortly after sustaining a hit during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Hamlin was fortunate that his cardiac arrest was recognized rapidly by onlookers and in-house emergency responders. It meant he could get the care he needed immediately after his heart stopped. After receiving CPR along with the use of a defibrillator on the field, Hamlin was transferred to a nearby hospital and released nine days later. 

But Hamlin is in the minority. According to 2021 US data for adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) only, survival to hospital discharge was 9.1% for all EMS-treated non-traumatic OHCA cardiac arrests because, for most people, early recognition and care is rare. Studies show that bystanders only perform CPR in the United States about 40% of the time. Improving this rate is critical to increasing survival from cardiac arrest. That means training laypeople to respond to cardiac arrest by calling 911, using Hands Only CPR® and using an AED if available. 

What is cardiac arrest?

During cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating on its own. So, CPR compressions manually keep the heart pumping blood to vital organs. This helps protect the brain, which is vital to surviving cardiac arrest. CPR, specifically early CPR, can double or triple a person’s chance of surviving a cardiac arrest. Between CPR compressions, responders can deliver an electrical shock from an AED, restoring the heart to its normal, consistent rhythm. 

Young, athletic people can experience cardiac arrest for a few different reasons. Hamlin’s cardiac arrest might have been caused by a rare phenomenon called commotio cordis, which is when sudden physical trauma to the chest causes sudden death…