Clearing the air about secondhand smoke

Abstract

When Kirk Day had a heart attack in April 2005, addressing the heart problems—in his case, blocked valves—was the easy part. His complications were respiratory. He remained in the intensive care unit, unconscious and unable to breathe without the aid of a ventilator. His health care team was baffled. “He's a smoker, right?” the nurses asked repeatedly. No, he was not a smoker, his family insisted. Finally someone mentioned, “But our mother smoked for 49 years.” “I'd say that makes him a smoker,” said the nurse. She scrawled “Smoker's Lungs” on his file.