Deadly mistake when turning a child upside down to drown

Hanoi National Children's Hospital received 7 children who drowned last week, of which only one received proper first aid, the rest were left upside down by their families, leaving their lives in critical condition.

On June 9, a representative of the National Children's Hospital said that among the children who drowned and were admitted to the hospital, 3 had prolonged cardiac arrest and 4 had critical respiratory failure. One child received proper first aid, while the remaining cases, although having cardiac arrest and respiratory arrest, were not resuscitated for cardiac arrest. Instead, their families carried them upside down and ran around, delaying emergency care.

Like a 20-month-old child who drowned, fell into a coma, and had a cardiac arrest. The family carried the child upside down and ran around the pool but there was no improvement. The child was taken to the provincial hospital after a travel time of over 30 minutes. After 15 minutes of resuscitation, the child's heartbeat returned, he was intubated and transferred to the National Children's Hospital. Currently, the child is still in critical condition, with a prognosis of severe neurological sequelae.

Similarly, a 6-year-old boy drowned and was brought to shore by his relatives in a coma, cyanotic, with cardiac and respiratory arrest. The child was run upside down around the pool by his family but his condition did not improve, so he was transferred to a local hospital and then to a central hospital.

At the Internal Medicine Intensive Care Unit, the patient was given active resuscitation measures, combined with active hypothermia to protect the brain. After 4 days in a coma, the child gradually regained consciousness, but still had to be monitored long-term because of possible neurological sequelae.

First aid is an important part of emergency care for drowning children. Photo: Provided by the hospital — First aid plays an important role in rescuing drowning children. Photo: *Provided by the hospital*

Dr. Phan Huu Phuc, Director of the Institute for Child Health Training and Research, National Children's Hospital, said that initial first aid for drowning children is very important because the cause of death is brain damage due to lack of oxygen. The maximum time the brain can withstand lack of oxygen is about 4-5 minutes. If this limit is exceeded, it will lead to irreversible brain damage, causing death or neurological sequelae.

"Therefore, when you see a drowning child who is unconscious, not breathing, or has stopped breathing, you need to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, chest compressions) immediately, because this is the golden time to save the child's life," said Dr. Phuc.

He added that in the case of the 6-year-old child above, the cardiac arrest lasted for a long time and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was not performed immediately, but fortunately the place where the child had the accident was near a medical facility. An important part of the success of this case was that the child received effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation at a lower level.

In addition to routine resuscitation measures, drowning children are actively hypothermic, meaning using devices to lower their body temperature to 33-34 degrees Celsius for a few days to protect the brain, prevent serious brain damage, and aid recovery.

"However, the indication and effectiveness of the therapy depends on the time the child's heart stops and whether or not cardiopulmonary resuscitation is timely and correct," the doctor said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drowning has claimed the lives of more than 2.5 million people worldwide in the past decade. An estimated 236,000 people die from drowning each year. It is one of the leading causes of death in children aged 5 to 14. In Vietnam, data from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shows that nearly 2,000 children under 16 die from drowning each year.