Risks to know when sleeping in a car to avoid heat

108 Military Central Hospital (108 Hospital, Hanoi ) informed about the case of 2 patients transferred from Kien An Hospital (Hai Phong) in a state of respiratory failure while sleeping in a car.

According to information provided by the patient's family, due to a power outage and the weather being too hot, the father and his three children went into the car in the garage and turned on the air conditioner to sleep. When the family discovered it, the eldest daughter had died of suffocation, the father and the second daughter were in a coma, were given emergency treatment at Kien An Hospital, then transferred to Hospital 108 in a state of respiratory failure, circulatory collapse, and had to be put on a ventilator and vasopressors. After nearly a week of treatment, on June 6, the condition of the father and his two children was stable, continued to be monitored and discharged in the near future.

Victims of suffocation in Hai Phong are recovering stably.

Regarding the habit of sleeping in the car to avoid the heat, Dr. Le Lan Phuong, in charge of the Intensive Care Center, Hospital 108, warned: When turning on the car's air conditioner to sleep and closing the car doors, it will produce a large amount of CO and CO ₂ gas into the surrounding environment. This gas continues to be sucked in by the air conditioner, causing people sleeping inside the car to suffocate. The victim will lose consciousness, fall into a coma and die if not given timely emergency care.

Another risk that can occur is that if the car door is closed while the car is stopped for too long, especially in hot weather, it can cause the car to run out of fuel and stop working, especially when the inside air mode is turned on. At that time, the air inside the car cannot be exchanged with the outside, and at the same time the temperature inside the car increases, causing people in the car to lack oxygen and suffer heat shock, death if not supported promptly.

Dr. Le Lan Phuong noted: In case of discovering a comatose person in a car suspected of suffocation, it is necessary to quickly take the victim to a ventilated area, support breathing, artificial respiration if the victim stops breathing and immediately transfer to the nearest medical facility for support. The chance of survival of a victim of suffocation depends on the time of arrival at the hospital.

When seeing someone suffocating, first open all the doors to let air in and immediately take the victim out of the toxic gas area, quickly take them to the hospital for emergency treatment, to limit sequelae.

Doctors warn that sleeping in a car always carries a risk of death, especially in hot weather like recent days.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/nhung-rui-ro-can-biet-khi-ngu-tren-o-to-tranh-nong-185230606223326394.htm