Now callers can press 1 to speak to her, or stay on the line for an explanation of the hoax. Others, she said, chide the hospital for using e-mail to spread the word and urge her to go straight to the TV networks. Also swamped with calls from India and Brazil is Rochester General Hospital in upstate New York. Circling the world in English and Spanish, an e-mail asks readers to imagine driving home alone and suddenly feeling chest pains. It advises them to cough hard and repeatedly to stabilize the heart rhythm, citing Rochester General as the source of the advice.
Trouble is, that technique is controversial.
While some medical personnel use it in certain situations, they warn not to try it alone. The American Heart Association advises laypeople to learn CPR, and to call 911 when they have a heart attack. Sheepishly, a heart disease survivor group called Mended Hearts takes responsibility. One of its 270 chapters must have printed the advice in a newsletter without proper fact-checking, said Jim Gosline, national chairman of the newsletter committee. Now, it s impossible to stamp out.