Michigan-Ohio Update & Bo Schembechler

Obviously, the post about the Michigan-Ohio game was written before the news came out about Bo Schembechler's death.

Of course, there hasn't been much definitive information about the exact circumstances of his death, but from what I understand, he had had a pacemaker-defibrillator implanted last month; the pacemaker-defib was apparently working properly -- sending out electrical charges to stimulate a normal heart rhythm -- when he collapsed at the WXYZ studios in Detroit. This would imply to me that Schembechler's heart was damaged to the point where even the pacemaker-defib could not maintain his life.

Granted, I'm not a physician... or even an MD (which, contrary to what the docs believe, does not stand for "major diety"), but it doesn't take a Bill "Cat-Killer" Frist to see that if 'external' electrical charges aren't working, your heart is shot.

This is one of those situations where neither CPR nor an AED would have served any purpose. If an AED had been available, and if the pacemaker-defib had been firing as designed, the AED would probably have read a normal sinus rhythm, and would not have allowed a shock. If the pacemaker had not been firing, Schembechler would probably have been asystolic ("flat-lined" for the "ER"-watching crowd); AED's do not read asystole as a shockable rhythm.

Either way, Schembechler was probably dead before he hit the floor.

Does this mean you should not take a CPR class? Hell, no. Take the clas, cause the person you find probably won't be in Schembechler's circumstances.

BTW, there was a lot of discussion around the office today about Schembechler's death would affect the game. Opinion seemed to be more or less evenly split: either it would drag the Michigan team down (through sorrow, depression, and loss), or it would further energize a team that's already "up" (their own "win one for the gipper" moment).

Either way, it's gonna be a hell of a game.