Death not caused by stopping CPR

As reported in an update on the Record website last week, a 32-year-old Florence woman who was pronounced dead Sept. 10 after a caller became too tired to continue chest compressions died long before compressions began.

Coroner Don Hodson said Thursday that discontinuation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation played no role in the death of Chelsie Rains, who had died at least five hours earlier. Rigor mortis already had begun setting in.

According to Hodson’s official report, Rains had been treated earlier in the day at St. Luke Hospital for vomiting.

Two weeks before that, she’d been at St. Luke with chest pain and was transferred to NMC Health in Newton for tests that indicated cardiac blockage, which she reportedly was told could be treated with medication.

She had no history of alcoholism or drug abuse.

Hodson reported her death as likely caused by sudden cardiac death. An autopsy has been ordered from a forensics laboratory in Kansas City.

The victim’s boyfriend initially tried to perform CPR while she still was in bed, Hodson said, but CPR on a bed is not effective. The boyfriend’s father took over and attempted CPR on the floor.