How Sherlock Survived a Cardiac Arrest

[wellingtongoose]

The Most Miraculous Thing

The medical explanation I am about to give for Sherlock’s survival is nowhere near as uplifting or exhilaration as watching Sherlock struggling out the steps of his mind palace with the sheer determination to live for John. If you want to keep thinking about Sherlock’s “revival” as a miracle of love and a testimony to our

Comments

[angelbase]

Really loved this! All I have to add is anecdotal - was in the hospital with my husband, who was on cardiac monitors after a massive heart attack (prob. caused by bleeding out during surgery) - he was sleeping. He woke up with a start, saying he had dreamed of falling off a ladder.
A breathless technician burst into the room, and told me he was monitoring the heart patients down the hall when my husband's heart just stopped - for over a minute.
I believe he restarted his own heart with a surge of adrenaline (the dream of falling.) He was fine - they actually sent him home a day or two later (after discontinuing the heart medication that had probably brought on the ...I'm guessing...flatline.)

[anonymous]

Thank you for this article. My brother had a pulmonary embolism last year at age 55 and all I could do watching this scene was keep telling the tv, "It doesn't work like that

[anonymous]

Thank you!
Such a detailed explanation is quite useful!
What I wonder about, is John's behaviour in this scene, when he tells Sherlock: "We are losing you!". Aren't doctors supposed to tell pacients something opposite, some orders, like "Stay with me!" - just to keep contact. It really seems unprofessional to tell a dying pacient with strong bleeding: "You are dying"

[stasvetlana]

The previous comment (the screened one) was mine, I just forgot to enter LJ before writing it, sorry! :) I didn't mean it anonymous.
So, I'll repeat it properly :)
Thank you for the detailed explanatoin. I am not a medical person at all, and I like to listen to good professional explanations. I am also glad when different professionals from different countries say similar things about it: in Russian community we had several medical postings written by surgeons, plus vivid discussions. And the conclusion was very much the same :)
I just don't understand John's behaviour with his phrase "We are losing you!" which seems highly unprofessional.

[wellingtongoose]

Hi, thanks for bringing that up, I actually forgot that part of the episode, so I looked at it again.

My interpretation of the scene is that John is desperately trying to keep Sherlock conscious and thus when he says "we're losing you", he doesn't mean that Sherlock is necessarily about to die, he means that Sherlock isn't as responsive to them as before. Maybe he closed his eyes, maybe he stopped vocalizing. Sherlock may just be very tired, but a true drop in his conscious level would be a very bad thing, so John needs Sherlock to stay as alert as he possibly can throughout which is why he says "we're losing [contact] with you".

I personally hope this is what John meant, because if he did say a paraphrase of "you are about to die" that is unprofessional.

[stasvetlana]

Thank you! It's a good explanation, I personally like it!