The Philadelphia Inquirer: Rapid CPR saves life of Penn physician who studies heart disease

From The Philadelphia Inquirer: A day after his heart stopped beating, causing him to black out and fall sideways into the arms of a dinner companion, Kevin Volpp was alive and alert, peppering his doctors with questions.

He knew better than most that his odds had been grim. A prominent health-policy researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, Volpp had coauthored 150 papers on the very topic that landed him in a Cincinnati hospital bed: heart disease.

So when cardiologist David M. Harris told Volpp he must have received prompt, high-quality CPR before being taken to the hospital July 9, the bedridden researcher wanted proof.

“How do you know I received high-quality CPR?” Volpp asked.

“Because,” his doctor replied, “I’m talking to you 24 hours after the event.”

Volpp, 54, shared his story of survival at an American Heart Association conference Monday, in hopes that more people who experience a sudden cardiac arrest will fare as well as he did.

Read the full story at The Philadelphia Inquirer.