Recovering from sudden death

Recently I've been involved in the care of two patients who were in the hospital after dropping dead. Literally.

In each case there was somebody on the scene who started CPR almost immediately. They were taken to the intensive care unit, treated with a cooling protocol, and are now able to look forward to resuming their lives with intact personalities and nearly intact physical functioning. And although they received interventions that didn't even exist all that many years ago, the reason that both of them are now able to spend time with their families is that when they hit the floor someone was able to start chest compressions.

During morning rounds on one of them it was mentioned that the patient was somewhat confused and emotional. The attending physician commented "that's okay, it's expected; she's still recovering from her sudden death."