Doctors Skewer Rick Santorum For Suggesting Students Learn 'CPR,' Skip Gun Control Activism
Doctors are firing back on Twitter over Rick Santorum’s suggestion that students take “CPR classes” instead of advocating for gun control following last month’s massacre in Parkland, Florida.
Hundreds of thousands of people, including students from throughout the nation, marched on Washington on Saturday, demanding lawmakers pass stricter gun laws after 17 people were shot to death Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Similar demonstrations occurred in other U.S. cities and across the world.
On Sunday, Santorum accused students of trying to pass the buck when it came to keeping their schools safe.
“How about kids, instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations where there is a violent shooter,” Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania and CNN political commentator, said on the cable news network.
His comments drew backlash on social media from doctors, including Eugene Gu, a third-year general surgery resident at Vanderbilt hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.
As a surgeon, I’ve operated on gunshot victims who’ve had bullets tear through their intestines, cut through their spinal cord, and pulverize their kidneys and liver. Rick Santorum telling kids to shut up and take CPR classes is simply unconscionable.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) March 25, 2018
“The last thing we need is for kids to administer CPR during a shooter situation and then get shot themselves,” Gu told HuffPost in an email Sunday. “So Rick Santorum’s comments are not only an assault on our children’s First Amendment rights but are putting our kids in danger with misinformation.”
Several other health care professionals echoed Gu’s sentiments and reminded Santorum what bullets do to bodies.
Here are some stats made simple for Rick Santorum:
Survival rate of pulseless trauma victims who get CPR at the scene: VERY, VERY LOW
Survival rate of people who don’t get shot in the first place: MUCH, MUCH BETTER— Rebecca Bell, MD (@RebeccaBellMD) March 25, 2018
Rick Santorum next: Rather than trying to disarm North Korea, let us just all learn CPR
— Armand Krikorian, MD (@ENDOUNO) March 25, 2018
Dear Rick Santorum,
As a healthcare professional who is certified in CPR, I can confirm that performing CPR can’t remove AR-15 bullets from a body. Get a clue.
Sincerely,
Common Sense— Jonny Loquasto (@JQuasto) March 25, 2018
Doctors weren’t the only ones to rip Santorum for his tone-deaf remarks. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) tweeted that CPR would do little to save the victim of “AR-15 bullets [that] obliterate organs.”
Survivors of the Parkland massacre and others also hit back.
Dear Rick Santorum: CPR is good for heart stoppage. Not good for victims of multiple AR-15 bullets, which typically impart 3 times the lethal energy upon impact than a 9mm handgun bullet. AR-15 bullets obliterate organs and cause so much bleeding that victims die very quickly. https://t.co/5E0HBUFT9b
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 25, 2018
CPR won’t stop the 96 daily deaths due to gun violence.
Love,
Matt Deitsch
CPR certified lifeguard &#MarchForOurLives organizer https://t.co/91xl5wkPIZ— Matt Deitsch (@MattxRed) March 25, 2018
I think @RickSantorum might need to learn CPR for the NRA following midterms
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) March 25, 2018
I never thought anyone would beat Donald Trump for the stupidest statement of the week award but lo and behold, along comes Rick Santorum with his CPR statement.
— Steve Redmond (@sjredmond) March 25, 2018
Rick Santorum - who thinks we should reactively revive the dead instead of proactively passing data-proven, lifesaving gun laws - had an A+ rating from the @NRA and took hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from their lobbyists as a quid pro quo. https://t.co/8PQo1hDsVG
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 25, 2018
Serious question: Has @RickSantorum seen images from the slaughter at Stoneman Douglas High? What kind of CPR could have been used to save them?
Stop putting this man on television. https://t.co/UDR71Alae0— Ja'han Jones (@_Jahan) March 25, 2018
"CPR wouldn't help victims of a gun massacre" is beside the point. He is literally saying they should expect their classmates to be shot
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) March 25, 2018
It’s kind of a weird thrill to watch my kids discover how perfectly wrong and terrible Rick Santorum is, like when I played them the Beatles for the first time except the exact opposite
— Mike Royce (@MikeRoyce) March 25, 2018
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.