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James Jude, MD Co-inventor of CPR, Dies At 87

Posted by timothy on from the incalculable-person-hours-saved dept.

New submitter voxelman writes: Jim Jude, my uncle, was a kind and modest man. The impact of his insight into the significance of a change in blood pressure from the application of defibrillation paddles to a dog's chest has led to the saving of millions of lives through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). His passing is a release from a debilitating illness that made a mockery of his contributions to medical science. He will be missed by all that knew him.

43 comments

  1. CPR dates back to the 1700s. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This guy did not "invent" CPR.

    1. Re: CPR dates back to the 1700s. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I invented breathing, you insensitive clod!

    2. Re:CPR dates back to the 1700s. by Qzukk · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'd love to hear how people performed CPR in the 1700s. Did they have a clue what they were doing or were they just beating the Devil out of the man?

      Jude was a member of a team of people who worked out compression frequency and breathing and then demonstrated that it worked on humans as an alternative to cutting them open and massaging their heart by hand.

      Prior to that, people just blew air into you, then pushed on your chest to push the air out or moved your arms and chest around to get air in and out of your lungs. They didn't even think about trying to get your heart to beat for you, except maybe by accident.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    3. Re:CPR dates back to the 1700s. by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      Actually, CPR dates back to classical antiquity. Ceramic pots from the time of the Parthian empire depict physicians performing CPR on patients.

    4. Re:CPR dates back to the 1700s. by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      On the one hand, yes, CPR traces it's history to the 1700s, even if it wasn't the entire modern version.

      On the other hand I can find at least two references which acknowledge Jude as being part of the modern version of it.

      But, more to the point ... thanks to all of the people throughout history who have helped us find ways to save lives.

      And you can be damned sure that the use of CPR in its modern form has saved a tremendous amount of lives.

      Sorry for your loss, voxelman. Few people can claim to have contributed to saving so many lives.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    5. Re:CPR dates back to the 1700s. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, they would also open up a vein to let the bad spirits out..

    6. Re: CPR dates back to the 1700s. by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      I invented breathing, you insensitive clod!

      Yes, but I have the patent on breathing.

      Over the Internet!

    7. Re:CPR dates back to the 1700s. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      And you can be damned sure that the use of CPR in its modern form has saved a tremendous amount of lives.

      No, you can't be sure about that. In movies and fictional TV shows, CPR is depicted positively, with 75% of CPR recipients getting up and going about their lives with no ill effects, often within minutes. In real life, most CPR recipients die, and those that survive the procedure often have severe brain damage or debilitating injuries to other organs. Many are confined to bed or a wheelchair for the rest of their life. Less than 5% have a good quality of life outcome.

      About 80% of the public say they would want to be aggressively resuscitated. For emergency room doctors, about 10% say the same.

    8. Re: CPR dates back to the 1700s. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Works for me.

    9. Re:CPR dates back to the 1700s. by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      This guy did not "invent" CPR.

      There really should be a "-1 douchebag" mod option.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    10. Re:CPR dates back to the 1700s. by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Even assuming your figures are correct, I'd rather end up bed-ridden or in a wheelchair than dead.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    11. Re:CPR dates back to the 1700s. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just FYI, contrary to what the name implies, CPR is not about resuscitation.
      Its only goal is to keep the blood flowing to maintain oxygenation of the brain untill a proper resuscitation technique (e.g. with a defibrilator) can be used.

      From what i've been told in first aid training, actual resuscitation with only CPR are less than 1%.

  2. Wait for it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...

  3. Cause of death by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Heart attack?

  4. My sympathy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I didn't know your uncle but you have my sympathy for your loss.

    I hope you take comfort from the fact he truly made a vast difference to the lives of people in a way that most people can only dream about.

    I hope you also think about those people his research saved and realise that amongst them will be people who went on to also further help society.

    1. Re:My sympathy by arth1 · · Score: 1

      I hope you take comfort from the fact he truly made a vast difference to the lives of people in a way that most people can only dream about.

      Four out of five elderly people given CPR end up dying within days. Many of them with prolonged and intense suffering due to CPR prolonging the inevitable.
      And in some cases CPR is given when it's not warranted, breaking ribs, collapsing lungs or otherwise causing serious and sometimes fatal damage.

      It's a useful tool for saving lives when not used indiscriminately. But that's how we use it. If I keel over, please don't resuscitate unless there is at least a 50% chance of long-term success, and less than a 50% chance of causing long-term damage. It's just a life.

    2. Re:My sympathy by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      If I keel over, please don't resuscitate unless there is at least a 50% chance of long-term success, and less than a 50% chance of causing long-term damage. It's just a life.

      Just tattoo that requisition on to your chest along with the relevant link for inputting your clinical parameters to determine the likelihood of resuscitation and we'll be happy to oblige.

      Signed, your local EMS team.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:My sympathy by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 1

      Four out of five elderly people given CPR end up dying within days. Many of them with prolonged and intense suffering due to CPR prolonging the inevitable.

      We certainly need more thought about end-of-life care, living wills, and do-not-resuscitate orders. But CPR is not the only intervention affected by that.

      And in some cases CPR is given when it's not warranted, breaking ribs, collapsing lungs or otherwise causing serious and sometimes fatal damage.

      Sometimes, yes, but more rarely than you might think.

      If I keel over, please don't resuscitate unless there is at least a 50% chance of long-term success, and less than a 50% chance of causing long-term damage.

      Dude, unless you're already in the hospital, whoever sees you go down or trips over your unconscious body does not have your medical history, nor can they predict your course of treatment.

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    4. Re:My sympathy by nytes · · Score: 1

      I think it depends on the jurisdiction that you're in, and the medical team treating you, as to whether or not do-not-resuscitate requests are honored.

      Just a couple of days ago I had to sign a paper at my doctor's office that expressly allows them to ignore any such order should anything happen during a procedure.

      Also, I was told by our local hospital that their policy is always to revive.

      --
      -- I have monkeys in my pants.
    5. Re:My sympathy by tomhath · · Score: 1

      It's called a "DNR" - Do Not Resuscitate. The EMTs will ask if you signed one as soon as they see you stretched out on the floor.

    6. Re:My sympathy by arth1 · · Score: 1

      It's called a "DNR" - Do Not Resuscitate. The EMTs will ask if you signed one as soon as they see you stretched out on the floor.

      But see, i dowant to be resuscitated in ways that will not cripple me or make my final days unbearable. Defibrillator? Bring it on. Adrenaline? Jab it in.
      CPR? No thanks.

    7. Re:My sympathy by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Four out of five elderly people given CPR end up dying [theguardian.com] within days

      So one in five survives.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  5. What a load of bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    This guy did not "co-invent" CPR. CPR was being used as early as the first half of the 18th century, and probably would have been in use much sooner if not for the religious persecution of science in the Middle Ages.

    I'm sorry for the loss of your Uncle, but there's no need to spout off a bunch of bullshit just to get a story on Slashdot.

    1. Re:What a load of bullshit by BenJeremy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, because bloodletting and anal fumigation by tobacco smoke used in that "CPR" of the 1700s are exactly the same as modern CPR.

      James Jude is acknowledged as one of three men who helped create the modern techniques of CPR. The summary is just fine.

    2. Re:What a load of bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Who modded this bullshit up? In the early 20th century, the state of the art in reviving people was artificial respiration. You ever see those looney toons cartoons where the drowned cat or whatever gets their arms pumped and starts squirting water like a fountain? That's how it was done back then, but with less squirting. Raise the shoulders to expand the chest and thus inhale, lower them to exhale (it's part of why crucifixion is fatal and why "positional asphyxiation" is a thing).

      You want to start someone's heart again? Well, if you died in 1930, I hear some guy at John Hopkins was working on a thing where they use Edison's lightning to zap your heart into dancing again. What was his name again? Oh, William Kouwenhoven, who was working with a team of other guys nobody's heard of, some kid named James Jude.

      Prior to that, they cut you open and massaged your heart. Or they just called time of death, after all, your heart wasn't beating anymore so you're dead and your soul's gone to its final judgement.

    3. Re:What a load of bullshit by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      and anal fumigation by tobacco smoke used in that "CPR" of the 1700s are exactly the same as modern CPR

      Oh, come on, you're just blowing smoke up our asses.

      Honestly, what I want to know is ... who the hell was the first person to decide to try that?

      I'm sure there's some "rule #34" porn out there for the adventurous. Somehow I suspect urban dictionary has a definition which includes this.

      The mind reels.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  6. He also invented by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the Internet!

  7. Thank You by medv4380 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If it wasn't for CPR starting to catch on I wouldn't even exist. April 16, 1963 a man left what is now the Idaho Nuclear Laboratory where he had been training people on CPR before the push in the 70's for it to be main stream. Because of poor funding of education my mother, 9, was on a crowded school bus when the emergency door popped open. She fell from the bus, and died when she hit the pavement at 35 mph. That man wasn't too far behind the bus, and was able to perform CPR to keep her heart going until the ambulance was able to arrive.

    1. Re:Thank You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great story, but I hope she didn't first tell you this as a bedtime story:

      "Lie down little medv4380, I have a bedtime story for you. One day, when I was nine, I DIED BWAHAHAHAHA! (cue dramatic lighting and scary sound effects)...."

    2. Re:Thank You by medv4380 · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure when I was first told, and I'm unsure how the right way is. For me it was always a story used to explain away her erratic behavior mostly due to when her brain medication, dilantin, stopped working when I was 5. Most of the details came from her twin brother, and her mother who was the anesthetist nurse at the hospital that treated her.

  8. ..this just in by nult · · Score: 0

    Unfortunately, no amount of CPR could bring him back...

    1. Re:..this just in by nytes · · Score: 1

      Too soon, dude.

      --
      -- I have monkeys in my pants.
  9. In his memory - Teaching by superid · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm a CPR instructor and I will mention this to the class of 16 that I'm teaching in 2 hours. Out of hospital cardiac arrest survival rates are still an abysmally low 8% because bystanders are often paralyzed, fearful, unwilling to get involved, and timidly participate when they do. The American Heart Association's new goal is to double survival rates by 2020. In his memory, you should find a class, bring a friend, learn how to react and be willing to do so.

    1. Re:In his memory - Teaching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not just a single class. I took a CPR class two years ago, and if somebody dropped to the floor in front of me I'm not sure I'd remember what to do. I can't even remember which BeeGee's song to use for the rhythm, or how many seconds to compress, etc.

      I keep meaning to go back. They should really teach this stuff in high school. Not because every teenager would be able perform CPR (they wouldn't), but because it would provide a better foundation for follow-up CPR classes as an adult.

      Actually, the one thing we learned in CPR class that actually instilled confidence is how to use those battery-powered defibrillator machines. Because all you have to do is 1) find it and 2) follow the super simple instructions. And the success rate of those is many fold better than CPR. Perhaps we need to invest more in bringing the price of those down, and making them more ubiquitous, rather than chasing the pipe-dream of turning a substantial portion of the public into CPR experts. The cheapest home model is like $1000*, and I can't even imagine how much more durable models are which would be fit for sitting in public spaces for years. But if they were closer to like $200-$300, we could mandate them like we mandate fire extinguishers.

      * http://www.amazon.com/Philips-HeartStart-Home-Defibrillator-AED/dp/B00064CED6

    2. Re:In his memory - Teaching by superid · · Score: 1

      Our town was the first in MA to make CPR certification a graduation requirement.

      I agree with your comments about AEDs and availability too. I'm about ready to buy one for myself because my office of over 3000 people has *one* AED and it's locked in the part-time nurses office.

    3. Re:In his memory - Teaching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IIRC they do it right on Baywatch.

      Just pretend you're the Hoff (Or Pam Anderson if your a chick); just make sure you still run in real time not slow motion.

    4. Re:In his memory - Teaching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the? Our office has one on every second floor, with about 40 people per floor.

      And after having done "advanced" first aid training (including how to use an AED), I wish my previous training had at least said "Just turn it on and use it if you have to; it's self-describing."

      (I've got a bunch of training, including the 20-hour red cross training, which somehow managed to miss AEDs - possibly because they were so new when I took it.)

    5. Re:In his memory - Teaching by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      I can't even remember which BeeGee's song to use for the rhythm

      It's "Staying Alive." How fucking hard can that be to remember?

      Hint: you're helping someone stay alive.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    6. Re:In his memory - Teaching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but it's a quite hot Saturday evening too.

    7. Re:In his memory - Teaching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is the survival rate when out of hospital cardiac arrests are treated with CPR?

  10. 1700s? Nonsense... by denzacar · · Score: 1

    Clearly it was invented by cats.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  11. Patient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I got word of Dr. Jude's passing this morning, and have been bummed. He performed a number of surgeries on me as a kid, including open heart surgery some 40 years ago. I always enjoyed seeing him at my check ups, and have nothing but fond memories of him. Your uncle was a hell of a good guy!

  12. mockery? by eegad · · Score: 1

    Dear voxelman, sincere condolences for the loss of your uncle. However, I must say I'm a bit perturbed by your suggestion that his ailments later in life made his life or contributions a mockery. In fact, I feel that this idea is somewhat antithetical to the act of CPR itself which struggles to respect and aid those whose very life functions are failing them. It is the normal course of human life for ailment and illness to overtake the human body, but that by no means diminishes the life that was lived, especially such a one as your uncle's which benefited so many. May he rest in peace.