Florida surgeon James Jude, who helped pioneer the life-saving cardiac massage technique that is still used by first responders, died this week. He was 87.
According to his son, Jude died Tuesday in Coral Gables, FL following an extended illness.
In the late 1950s, Jude worked as a resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital. There, he observed two researchers, William Kouwenhoven and Guy Knickerbocker, who were working on fibrillating dogs. He deduced that applying pressure to the chest with the heel of the hand in a rhythmic motion could revive the heart and save lives.
Together, the three men developed the chest compression technique that would later be combined with artificial respiration to give life to what we now call CPR.
Jude played an active role in training doctors and firefighters in the technique. In 1964, he moved to Florida where he served as professor of surgery and chief of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital. From 1971 to 2000, he worked in private practice.
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