When does a person need artificial respiration?

Answer 1

Artificial Respiration is a very specific measure when a person cannot breath or when their ability to breathe on their own is or will be compromised. I will deal first with the latter.

A person's ability to breathe on their own may be from an injury or illness, or may be planned (medical procedure) or may occur as a complication of surgery. For examples:

• If a person's airway is compromised (ex. progressive swelling due to allergy reaction), a physician may "tube" the patient to protect the airway and prevent the swelling from closing off the airway completely. A ventilator performs the "artificial breathing".
• When a patient is breathing ineffectively, a physician in the ER or hospital may insert a tube to protect the airway, boost O2 saturation in the blood, protect kidney perfusion, and allow toxins to clear the body (example: an overdose). Intubated and on a ventilator, the patient is in the ICU until the ventilator can be removed.
• A person whose O2 stats dropped during surgery may be tubed and put on a ventilator.

Otherwise, many situations can affect a person''s breathing when at home or out in the community without a doctor or medical equipment nearby. As a couple examples:

• Person has inhaled water (a near drowning). The heart is still beating, but the person is not breathing.
• A person with Asthma suddenly cannot breathe, turns blue, and collapses. The heart continues, but the person is not getting any O2.
• The person has thrown a blood clot (a thombus, blood clot, has turned into an embolism, a blood clot traveling through the bloodstream), causing a heart attack. Both respirations and heart beat has stopped.

The problem with respiratory arrest is that it can very quickly lead to cardiac arrest, too. So a Samaritan helping the person should be prepared to lose both.

Samaritans should not try to do artificial respirations when a person is still breathing, which includes:

1. audible wheezing - air is still moving
2. coughing - air is still moving
3. when a person can still talk - they must be breathing to talk
4. when a person complains of shortness of breath (SOB) - they are still breathing

NOTE 1: Choking is a separate issue. A rescuer or Samaritan must deal with the obstruction FIRST, then do artificial respirations IF the person does not automatically start breathing.

NOTE 2: Collapsing does NOT automatically mean to start CPR. The person may have just fainted.

Answer 2

a person needs artificial respiration when he or she need more oxygen

Answer 3

A person needs artificial respiration when they can't breath or when they suffer from breathing problem