George Floyd’s Chances Of Survival Dropped 10-15% Every Minute Without CPR, Doctor Testifies

George Floyd’s Chances Of Survival Dropped 10-15% Every Minute Without CPR, Doctor Testifies

The emergency care doctor who declared George Floyd dead after his May 25 arrest testified on Monday at the trial of Derek Chauvin that his chances of living decreased between 10% and 15% for every minute he wasn’t given CPR after he went into cardiac arrest, as the prosecution sought to show how police missed opportunities to save Floyd’s life.

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KEY FACTS

Dr. Bradford Langenfeld, who provided care to Floyd at the Hennepin County Medical Center, told jurors that “it’s well known any amount of time a patient spends in cardiac arrest without CPR markedly decreases the chance of a good outcome.”

More specifically, chances of survival drop around 10% to 15% for every minute CPR care isn’t given, Langenfeld testified.

The doctor said he received no report that Floyd received CPR from any of the four officers or bystanders before paramedics arrived on the scene.

KEY BACKGROUND

The two paramedics who responded to the scene, Seth Bravinder and Derek Smith, testified last week that it seems Floyd was not moving or breathing when they arrived to help him. Smith, who said he suspected Floyd was dead while the officers were still kneeling on him, said the officers could have started performing chest compressions on Floyd. “Any lay person can do chest compressions,” he told jurors. An off-duty Minneapolis firefighter who happened to be on the scene said she repeatedly asked to check Floyd’s pulse and wanted to provide him medical attention, but was denied access to the scene by the officers.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“There’s no reason Minneapolis [police] couldn’t have started chess compressions,” Smith said in court on Thursday.

FURTHER READING

“Minneapolis Firefighter Says She Pleaded With Officers To Let Her Help George Floyd As He Was Dying” (Forbes)

“Paramedic Testifies George Floyd Was Dead While Derek Chauvin Was Still Kneeling On Him” (Forbes) 

A 27-year-old Minneapolis firefighter who witnessed the May 25 arrest of George Floyd while off-duty testified in court on Tuesday at the murder trial of Officer Derek Chauvin that she pleaded with the officers detaining Floyd to let her help him, seeing he was dying, but wasn’t allowed on the scene.

Genevieve Hansen, who had at the time been a firefighter in Minneapolis for roughly a year, described being immediately “concerned” when she stumbled upon the three officers pinning down Floyd—with Chauvin kneeling on his neck—while she was out on a walk.

“I identified myself right away because I noticed he needed medical attention,” Hansen said, noting she immediately saw Floyd had an “altered level of consciousness” and wasn’t moving, though he was still being pinned down.

Floyd’s face also appeared “puffy” and “swollen,” Hansen said, “which is what would happen if you were putting a grown man’s body on someone’s neck.”

Hansen said she was told not to get involved by one of the four officers at the scene, Tao Thao, and became increasingly distressed as her pleas to help and to check Floyd’s pulse were ignored.

“I tried different tactics of calm and reasoning, I tried to be assertive, I pleaded and was desperate,” said Hansen, conceding that at some point she began to swear at the officers—to no avail.

Hansen said she was “angry” and in disbelief as she watched Floyd be loaded into an ambulance after the paramedics arrived, and decided to call the police to “report” what had happened when the situation “calmed down.”

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“I don’t know if you’ve ever seen anybody be killed, but it’s upsetting,” Hansen told Chauvin’s defense attorney Eric Nelson during cross-examination.