Technological Imperative Bites Again

New device brings fast help to a failing heart | USAT | 10.11.07

For more than 30 years, paramedics have been saving the lives of these patients by inserting, through the vocal cords, a breathing tube about the width of a small garden hose and then pushing air into the lungs with an inflatable bag.… But the aggressive treatment is very uncomfortable for those on the receiving end, and it carries the risk of dangerous infection. So a device more commonly found in the hospital is making its way into the nation’s ambulances, including Harper’s rig in Houston.

As one that is highly skeptical of most of what the technological imperative has done to EMS — the cost of CPAP over the cost of intubation seems reasonable.