By JoNel Aleccia
NBC News
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When Cindee Goodling’s heart stopped beating, the South Bend, Ind., woman was 33 years old and nearly 20 weeks pregnant, with a 3-year-old daughter and a husband who didn’t want to lose her.
So doctors in the emergency room at Memorial Hospital of South Bend felt an extra incentive to save her, even if it meant trying a unique technique that cools the body and wasn’t recommended in pregnant women.
Goodling had collapsed during a church movie night and within minutes a crowd that included a doctor, an off-duty policeman and an electrician — all of whom knew CPR — had begun taking turns performing chest compressions. Ambulance crews arrived quickly and within 15 minutes they had used a defibrillator to try to shock Goodling’s heart back into rhythm. It took four or five shocks until they succeeded, said Dr. Keith Sherry, emergency medical service and air medical director for Memorial Hospital.
Full Story: Risky cooling therapy saves pregnant mom, baby, after cardiac arrest