A new study allegedly shows that women are less likely to receive CPR from bystanders when they’re having a heart attack in public. The researcher behind the study claim this could be due to the fact that people are afraid of touching women’s breasts.
The Associated Press reports a new study of 20,000 heart attack cases shows that only 39 percent of women who were suffering from cardiac arrest in public were given CPR, compared to 45 percent of men.
Audrey Blewer, the lead author of the study, told the American Heart Association, “CPR involves pushing on the chest so that could make people less certain whether they can or should do CPR in public on women.”
Blewer also told the Associated Press, “It can be kind of daunting thinking about pushing hard and fast on the center of a woman's chest.”
Another leader of the study, Dr. Benjamin Abella, told the Associated Press that performing CPR does not actually require touching a woman’s chest. He told the Associated Press CPR “shouldn’t entail” removing clothing or touching breasts.
“This is not a time to be squeamish because it's a life and death situation,” Abella explained.
Given all of the current accusations about sexual assault, it is not entirely far removed from reality that someone who saved a woman’s life can later be accused of assault for the way they positioned their hands in a time of crisis.
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