In the case of George Floyd and Eric Garner, the black men who were killed by police action, both victims told the cops time and again “I can’t breathe!” Those who defend the police respond with, well, if he can’t breathe, how can he talk? This response is bullshit intended to deflect blame for the death.
The fact is people who cannot breathe, or who are having life-threatening breathing difficulty can still move enough air to speak.
I’m not a physician nor an anesthesiologist nor a respiratory therapist. I am, however, a Paramedic with 10 years of experience. I have had two patients die in my ambulance because they could not breathe yet both of them told me “I can’t breathe!”
Here’s the problem. The brain and heart are very sensitive to low oxygen levels in the blood. For around $25 — $30 you can purchase a pulse oximeter. It’s a little device that clips on to a finger tip. By reading the blood flow into the finger tip, the pulseox measures pulse rate and the level of oxygen in the blood.
The pulseox shows the level of oxygen in the blood as a percentage of the blood’s ability to absorb oxygen — it’s known as “oxygen sats” — oxygen saturation. Normal O2 sat is 96-100%; some sources teach 94-100% — which means the blood is carrying as much oxygen as it can.
When sats are down to 90%, the patient feels shortness of breath. 90% O2 sat is uncomfortable and frightening. An O2 sat of 85% is the point at which brain damage starts. When oxygen saturation drops to 90% or below, you will still be able to inhale and exhale, however, your brain and heart muscle are beginning to suffer from oxygen deprivation.
It’s know as HYPOXIA — low oxygen level in the blood system. You will die if hypoxia is not corrected immediately.
Here are three cases I have experienced:
1. Guy with asthma was helping girl friend clean her apartment; he was changing the cat’s litter box. Dust from the cat litter caused a serious asthma attack. By the time we got on scene, he was gasping, still able to form words and sentences, O2 sat was 88%. I won’t go into the details, but, he survived.
2. End-stage COPD patient. His CPAP machine quit. By the time we got on scene, his sats were down to 82%, face and lips turning blue, semi-conscious, could form a few words. Got him on our CPAP with high-flow oxygen through non-rebreather mask, duo-neb treatment, he died.
3. Church chicken dinner. Chicken fried in peanut oil. Guy was allergic to peanuts. Throat swelling closed, tongue swelling, he could inhale and exhale with extreme difficulty and could speak in bursts of a few words. We were on the scene within three minutes. One epi pen immediately followed by two IVs — epinephrine, solumedrol, Benadryl; high-flow O2 through non-rebreather mask. Sats down to 85% for 10-12 minutes. He survived but he still suffers from limited use of his legs due to brain damage because of low O2 level.
The problem is that the person experiencing difficulty breathing may be able to talk in short bursts of words, but, s/he is not moving enough oxygen to keep the brain functioning. After a very few minutes, the oxygen depletion begins to take its toll on the heart muscle, leading to cardiac arrest — which is why Eric Garner and George Floyd died of cardiac arrest. Their death was NOT caused by an underlying cardiac condition — their deaths were brought on by oxygen deprivation that led to cardiac arrest. If they had not been choked, they would not have gone into cardiac arrest.
Autopsy reports of cardiac arrest in these cases are bullshit. Claims that, well, he can talk so he can breathe, are bullshit. Garner and Floyd were murdered.