Dr. Robert Myerburg said he heard a woman screaming and saw a man on the floor.
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The man had just arrived at Miami International Airport from Paris ,and was standing in the passport line.
When Dr. Myerburg got to him, he didn’t have a pulse. He immediately started CPR and asked a guard for a defibrillator to shock the man’s heart back into rhythm.
There are 30 in terminals across MIA, but, as he found out that day, there were none inside the large and isolated federal security area where international arrivals are first processed.
By the time someone was able to bring him a defibrillator, a fire rescue crew had arrived and the passenger was taken to UM Hospital.
Within days after the incident, a defibrillator was installed in the federally secured area.
And the patient made a complete recovery, even though the odds were stacked against him.
