Sudden Cardiac Arrest Explained: How Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal’s Son Died While Recovering in a US Hospital

Vedanta

Group founder and chairman Anil Agarwal mourned the loss of his son Agnivesh, who passed away at the age of 49 due to a cardiac arrest after a skiing accident in the United States. Informing about his death on the social media platform X, Agarwal wrote, “Following a skiing accident in the US, he was recovering well in Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. We believed the worst was behind us. But fate had other plans, and a sudden cardiac arrest snatched our son away from us.”

What is a cardiac arrest?

Cardiac arrest happens when your heart stops beating or beats so fast that it stops pumping blood. During cardiac arrest, people usually collapse and become unresponsive. Symptoms start without warning, and this is why doctors also call it sudden cardiac arrest. According to experts, this life-threatening condition can become fatal if you do not get immediate treatment. During cardiac arrest, also known as cardiopulmonary arrest, your heart isn’t pumping blood anymore. Within minutes, this puts your organs and whole body at risk of death because they must constantly receive oxygen. Your blood delivers that oxygen. Emergency treatment includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, and defibrillation. CPR keeps enough oxygen in your lungs and gets it to your brain until an electric shock restores a normal heart rhythm. CPR and defibrillators may save your life.

How does an accident recovery lead to a cardiac arrest?

An accident recovery in the hospital can lead to cardiac arrest due to a variety of potential complications, systemic responses to trauma, and the patient's underlying health conditions. According to doctors, in-hospital cardiac arrest in trauma patients often results from non-cardiac causes like respiratory failure, major blood loss, or secondary organ injury, rather than a primary heart problem. A few factors include:

Hemorrhage

Massive internal or external bleeding can be a major reason for cardiac arrest, which happens due to significant loss of blood volume.

Respiratory insufficiency

Trauma to the chest, airway obstruction, or central nervous system injuries impair breathing, which leads to hypoxia, or lack of oxygen in the body.

Direct cardiac damage

Blunt or penetrating trauma to the chest can cause direct injury to the heart muscle or major blood vessels, disrupting the heart's function and leading to arrest.

What usually causes a cardiac arrest?

Before cardiac arrest, abnormal, rapid impulses abruptly override the normal electrical impulses that start your heartbeat. Abnormal heart rhythms, also known as arrhythmias, lead to most sudden cardiac arrests. The most common life-threatening arrhythmia is ventricular fibrillation – an erratic, disorganised firing of impulses from your heart’s lower chambers. Doctors say when it happens, your heart stops pumping, and then there is no way to get oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body. Without treatment, you can die within minutes.

What are the signs and symptoms of cardiac arrest?

A few signs and symptoms of a cardiac arrest may include:

• Loss of consciousness, or fainting
• Heart palpitations
• Dizziness
• Lightheadedness
• Weakness
• Chest pain
• Nausea and vomiting
• Breathlessness

Doctors say sudden cardiac arrest happens without preceding symptoms.