Hi there. I'm sorry this isn't your ordinary professional post. In fact I'm looking for some help with a situation (sorry bad English).
My father (55) fell on the corridor, when I arrived (few seconds later) he had his arms stiff, pointed to the ceiling (and a bit towards his 'up'). I tried to reanimate him with typical measures like putting him in a sitting position, calling and shaking him and he started breathing, although heavily through saliva and moving his tongue and opening his eyes (not focused). I got the impression he was trying to say something. I thought he was coming back. I don't remember when he became "relaxed" (if before/after that), and I quickly started to carry him outside to call for help, when almost outside I noticed his tongue was obstructing his throat, and unfortunately I was in despair so I released him and he hit his head on the floor (from about 18 inches). With two fingers I could unblock his throat but his tongue would go back. At this point I couldn't hear his heart and he had pupils dilated. He also stopped breathing and I started CPR and he was exhaling spontaneously, I could feel a bump on his head what I guess suggests blood circulation. We put him in trunk of a truck and drove to the hospital. It took I believe around 10-15mins to arrive there and I was doing CPR as best as I could all the time. He stopped exhaling by himself on the way, I can't tell exactly when. He was however still normally hot.
I wonder two things:
1- What most likely happened? Heart attack? If so, was he already dead when he fell? (or maybe when he got relaxed) and the other signs like breathing and such were purely by reflex?
2- He wasn't intubated... I found this disturbing because he was alive like 30 min before, and was breathing few minutes before. I'm no expert but I had a clear impression that breathing was a big deal as he apparently was making a huge effort trying to breath. Does that 1.5hour only apply to minor heart attacks, and the sudden ones aren't even worth a try?
I feel extremely guilty for letting his head hit the ground and also perhaps doing something else wrong like wasting too much time... but I also feel that the hospital didn't do not even remotely everything they could to save him. They told me he arrived without pulse. I'm talking about a public hospital in a 3rd world country here (generally not good).
Thank you very much. You have no idea how important discussing that is to me.