Death grip

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A death grip is an extremely tight grip, such as that exerted by people in a panic for fear for their life. This was commonly thought to be a risk when rescuing drowning people—that they would cling to their rescuer with a death grip which would cause them both to perish. Investigation showed that this did not actually happen in practice and so breaking a death grip is no longer emphasised in lifesaving.^[1] The actual behaviour of a drowning people is more passive as they lack the oxygen to take violent action and an instinctive paddling reflex occurs. An untrained individual should not approach anyone in a state of panic and who represents a danger to the rescuer and it is advised to wait until it is safe to attempt to rescue and resuscitate them.

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