I work in EMS and I have done CPR many times.The honest truth is CPR alone for someone who isn't breathing and their heart has stopped is not very effective. I mean, its better than doing nothing because you give the person a chance even if that chance is small. I would say well less than 10% of people in this situation who only get CPR survive. The key to survival is early defibrillation, which is why many places nowadays have an AED on site(rec centres,town halls,golf courses,etc) and of course all ambulances have them as well. The worse thing about CPR from a provider point of view is breaking ribs, especially in the elderly(think snap,crackle,pop), punctured lungs,etc are pretty common too but it comes down to life over limb and if you need CPR you are already in a very dire situation. I just checked through this thread briefly and it appears to be all over the place so hopefully it is still about CPR
