In a rare case, a Nebraska man’s life was saved when his ambulance hit a pothole and his dangerously paced heartbeat returned to normal. The incident happened when paramedics rushed a 59-year-old man with a life-threatening heartbeat to the hospital.
The ambulance was en-route to the hospital and 7 miles into the nearly 30 mile trip the man's heartbeat hit a dangerous rate of 200 beats per minute. The man was going into cardiac arrest until suddenly, the ambulance hit a pothole and the man's heartbeat returned to normal.
One way to treat such an incident is with an electrical shock. Classically, you’ll see it on television. The paddles, ‘Clear’ and a big jolt. Turns out, you can do that with a pothole!
The only other similar case on record is where a speedbump jolted a man back to a normal heartbeat in the 1970's.
What Causes Rapid Heartbeat?
Abnormal heartbeat is called arrhythmia and it is dangerous because it can prevent normal circulation of the blood to the heart and brain. It can be cured by procedures called cardioversion,according to heart.org.
When treated with drugs it’s called chemical cardioversion. Doctors can also treat it by sending an electric shock to the heart (electrical cardioversion). In the case of electrical cardioversion, patients are put to sleep so that they don’t feel the shock.
In this rare medical case, the pothole was a blessing and saved a man’s life, however, potholes also cause accidents, deaths, and economic damages. Potholes are caused by wear and tear to the road by water, freezing, and excessive heat. The areas most prone to potholes are those with poor drainage and where the vehicular traffic is high.
Every individual motorist in the United States needs to spend $377 annually on vehicle repairs due to potholes. The cost of bad roads to businesses in the country between 2012 to 2022 is estimated to be $240 billion.