Doctors Put Patients In Hypothermic Coma To Ease Healing

OMAHA, Neb. -- Omaha-area doctors said a technique of putting cardiac arrest patients into a hypothermic coma can buy them more time.

Michael Neubert said he “died” after suffering cardiac arrest on Oct. 20 while working at Peter Sarpy Elementary School. While he was on the way to a hospital, paramedics were able to re-establish his heartbeat.

Doctors said Neubert defied long odds. Only 5 percent of cardiac arrest patients arrive alive at a hospital and those who do usually face months of recovery and long-term health damage.

“They are the sickest patients we take care of. They’ve already died once,” said cardiologist Dr. Joseph Thibodeau of Alegent Health Clinic.

After screening Neubert, the team at Midlands Hospital decided he could benefit from therapeutic hypothermia, a process doctors nicknamed “code chill.”

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