Let's burst this bubble the #MedTwitter way, shall we?

Here's a #Thread bursting the rumours surrounding the mechanical ventilator. https://twitter.com/imran_funny/status/1304751327709245441

What is a mechanical ventilator? In layman terms, it is a complicated air pump designed to pump in air to the lungs only.

I WARN YOU - It's in layman terms. It shouldn't be taken as the true definition.

Do watch this video to understand how they work.

Your respiratory muscles pulls in air into the lungs through negative pressure. A mechanical ventilator replaces this very work done by those muscles, through positive pressure.

Ventilators cannot replace the functions of other organs like the heart and the brain.

The ventilator can't keep the heart alive directly. The heart will survive from the oxygen it is receiving from the lungs. And if the heart stops functioning even when ventilation is done, no amount of more ventilation will bring it alive.

So a flat ECG means it's gone.

Same goes for brain death.

There are centres in your brain which maintains your breathing. If that's gone, the ventilator cannot keep the person alive. The person will remain in a vegetative state, never to return.

Then comes another accusation - the patient is ALREADY DEAD, but is put on ventilator.

That's a blatant lie generated by the mainstream media. Let me tell you why.

Rigor mortis is the stiffening of muscles of the body after death. It starts 2 hours after death, and it starts in the chest area at 5-7 hours.

When that happens, no matter how much air you pump into, the chest won't rise as is seen in alive patients.

So, this proves that ventilators cannot fake life in a dead person.

Let me tell you all time and again...

Ventilators are just specialised pumps for your lungs. If your lungs cannot absorb oxygen from the air pumped in, even the ventilator can't save you.

There are other ways to check for life in a patient. Like corneal reflex, pupillary reflex, reaction to stimulus, etc. These are regularly checked by doctors.

Stop thinking that we doctors are always here to mint money!

Here's an answer I had written previously on @Quora regarding the same. Do read. https://qr.ae/pNFFrO 

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