A bit of googling shows it is widely discussed and was once in CPR guidelines (but isn't any more). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34034775/ is a recent randomized trial that found no improvement.

Can you please follow the site guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) when posting here, including these ones?

"Don't be snarky."

"Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." (Edit: ok, maybe I was overinterpreting your comment a little bit on this one.)

If instead of posting this you had taken the time to click on https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=bookofjoe, you would already know that bookofjoe worked for 38 years as a neurosurgical anesthesiologist.

> I don't know if the author of this post had any medical credentials.

In his defense, this is written on his personal blog where (quite possibly) many readers already have some reason to trust his advice. And while I'm not sure what counts as appropriate credentials, on his linked HN bio (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=bookofjoe) he claims to be a "Retired (38 years in practice) neurosurgical anesthesiologist". He also links to a lot of Google Scholar papers on medical topics for which he is a co-author.

(Oops, beaten by Dan, but I'll leave it up anyway. While I agree with Dan that you might have phrased it a bit better, I did think it was a fair question.)

On a whim, I did EMT-B training a few years ago. Part of that course is a responder-level CPR cert. Through muscle memory, one of my fellow students jumped on scene during the evaluation, and the first thing she did was instruct a bystander to "Call 911!"

To which the evaluator responded, "You are 911"

That's what they taught us in Boy Scouts. Very first step is to get help.

Have someone call 911 (or whatever number in your country) immediately. If nobody is nearby start yelling.

Only one time in my life have I had to perform CPR (was already too late) but it is amazing how much of what I learned when I was 11 years old stuck with me.

Get help, check airway for obstructions...etc. Most importantly...take a CPR class sometime in your life and do what they say. The "ABC" of airway, breathing, circulation they taught us may not be current advice.

Sidenote: Don't be too hard on yourself if you don't save a life...even the pros say unless the patient is young/healthy you likely won't.

Edit: The feeling when the pros actually show up (in the case where I was doing CPR within minutes) is one of the biggest reliefs I have had in my life. Even knowing CPR...you feel helpless until they show up. And once they do ask immediately if they need you. If not...get out of the way.

Step -1: touch somebody and tell them to call 911.

It's absurdly short, recommend reading. However, I have no idea if it's correct.

Lay them down and hold their legs up.

Lol