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Neil Armstrong’s $6 Million Settlement 49

Neil Armstrong’s Death,

and a Stormy, Secret $6

Million Settlement

Continued from Page 48

James R. Hansen, an emeritus professor of
history at Auburn University and author of the
Armstrong biography “First Man” that became
the basis for the movie, said he had been aware
of the problems with Mr. Armstrong’s care
“since very shortly after he died.” Mr. Hansen
said he withheld the information from an
updated 2018 edition of his book “out of respect
for certain members of the family.”
“But I do believe that the whole story of
what happened should be known,” he added.
“His life story really isn’t complete until it is
known, and even more importantly, the full story
of his death may prevent similar tragedies in the The astronaut, who avoided the limelight and never cashed in on his fame, was buried at
future.” sea in September 2012.Credit Bill Ingalls/NASA
Three expert reviews of Mr. Armstrong’s
medical records — one prepared at the request Dr. Salzano told hospital lawyers that He did, however, comment that a patient
of the Armstrong family and two for the hospital after the bleeding began, Mr. Armstrong might with the type of complications described in the
— provide an outline of what happened after he have had a 50-50 chance of survival had expert reviews would not typically be brought to
was admitted to Fairfield Hospital, in the surgeons reopened his chest in the a catheterization lab for treatment.
Cincinnati suburb of Fairfield, with symptoms catheterization lab, but that “the patient became “Generally, if a patient develops signs of
of heart disease. Records do not say why he or unsalvageable on the way to the O.R.,” case bleeding inside the chest after pacing wires are
his family chose Fairfield, a community hospital records show. pulled under observation, they would usually go
that is part of a larger group of Catholic hospitals Dr. Salzano declined to speak about the straight to the operating room and usually
now called Bon Secours Mercy Health, rather case. Dr. Bavaria did not immediately respond to survive,” Dr. Smith said. []
than, for example, the University of Cincinnati a request for comment.
Medical Center, a larger academic hospital. Another doctor who examined the case No E.T. Life Yet?
After running tests, doctors at Fairfield for the hospital, Dr. J. Stanley Hillis, generally
decided to do bypass surgery immediately, supported the way the case was handled, Continued from Page 45
timing some experts would later question. As a including the decision to treat Mr. Armstrong in
standard part of the procedure, doctors the catheterization lab when complications
The second class of explanations suggests that
implanted temporary wires to help pace his arose. there is, in fact, E.T. life, but we just haven't
heartbeat as he recovered. “I know they asked me to keep it detected it. That could be because we just
But when a nurse removed those wires, confidential,” Dr. Hillis, a practicing haven't looked very hard yet, or because we are
Mr. Armstrong began to bleed internally and his cardiologist in Indiana, said. “I just talked to
not looking in the right way, or because they
blood pressure dropped. Doctors took him to the them and gave them a brief opinion. He declined
don't want us to see them. Given the age of the
hospital’s catheterization lab, where an to comment further, stating he had only “vague
universe and our galaxy, if life isn't super-hard to
echocardiogram showed, in one expert’s words, recollections” of the medical details from five
emerge, we are statistically most likely to be
“significant and rapid bleeding.” years ago.
cosmic babies. In this context, E.T. life is likely
There, doctors drained some blood from Dr. Ashish Jha, a professor of medicine
to be millions of years more technologically
his heart, to prevent it from being pressed and at Harvard University and a hospitalist who advanced than we are. Thinking about how far
hampered by the accumulated fluid. regularly cares for patients post-cardiac surgery, our technology has come in the last 100 years, it
Mr. Armstrong was then moved from the said he “largely” agreed with Dr. Bavaria’s is unfathomable to think what we might be
catheterization lab to an operating room. The conclusion. “These people should have gone
capable of in a million. If we survive that long.
records do not make clear what doctors may directly to the operating room,” Dr. Jha said.
If E.T. life is millions of years more advanced
have done there, but he appears to have lingered Dr. Jha, who was not involved in the
than we are, and they don't want us to know
for a week or longer before dying on Aug. 25. case, reviewed the experts’ reports for The
about them, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't know
His family announced at the time that the cause Times. “If someone has dropped their blood
about them.
of death was “complications resulting from pressure substantially and this is a code blue,
Then there is the third set of solutions to
cardiovascular procedures.” that means they are having life-threatening Fermi's paradox. These go along the lines of the
The expert reviews focus on the bleeding. I don’t totally understand why they following: Life has formed and evolved
hospital’s decision to bring Mr. Armstrong to a went to the cath lab,” he said.
elsewhere. Maybe lots of times. But it doesn't
catheterization lab rather than directly to an Dr. Jha also questioned the hospital’s
exist now. There are lots of ways the universe
operating room when he began to experience original decision to perform the bypass surgery
could kill us, for example a major asteroid
complications. on Mr. Armstrong on an emergency basis.
impact. If we were sufficiently technologically
“The decision to go to the cath lab was “It feels to me like his death was wholly
advanced, however, I give us a fighting chance.
THE major error,” Dr. Joseph Bavaria, a vice- preventable,” he said. “It’s not completely clear
Or we might kill ourselves off. This is where
chair of cardiothoracic surgery at University of to me he needed the cardiac surgery that he got.
Fermi's Paradox gets really depressing. We are
Pennsylvania wrote in a review conducted at the It was probably a borderline call, but sounds like in our technological adolescence, by which I
request of the Armstrong family. he was rushed into surgery based on the notes.” mean we are smart enough to destroy ourselves,
Dr. Richard Salzano, a cardiothoracic Dr. Craig Smith, the cardiac surgeon at
but maybe aren't smart enough not to do so. It
surgeon at Yale Medical Center who reviewed Columbia University Medical Center who
could be that any civilization that becomes
the case for the hospital, saw the decision to performed President Bill Clinton’s 2004
sufficiently technologically advanced is doomed
bring Mr. Armstrong to the catheterization lab as quadruple bypass, declined to speak specifically
to destroy itself. []
“defensible” but “certainly riskier than taking to Mr. Armstrong’s case, given that he had not
the patient to the O.R.” seen the medical records.