Empowering catastrophic far-forward self-care: Nobody should die alone without trying

Abstract

Most traumatic death occurs pre-hospital, before a victim ever encounters a health care provider, whether in military or in civilian settings. Many of these deaths have been accepted as unpreventable, especially when severe injuries occur to isolated victims, with no possibility of rescuers responding. A double paradox is that dying individuals often have anatomically simple wounds with complex physiology. These individuals are physically dying alone while virtually connected via smartphone to a potential worldwide network of life-saving mentors - many of whom have the comprehensive library of human resuscitative science at their virtual fingertips. If a seriously injured victim is not immediately incapacitated, then many techniques to empower point-of-care self-resuscitation exist, including both remotely telementored and video-modelled diagnostic, resuscitative, and interventional procedures. This article discusses a small but evolving database and proposes developmental pathways to attempt to ensure that no conscious, dying victim ever dies alone without at least trying to save themselves or receiving comforting words through virtual expert help.