Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is one of the leading causes of death in Western Countries. It has been estimated that from 15 to 20 percent of all deaths in the United States are the result of OHCA. The most recent Australian data, based on ambulance attendances in metropolitan Melbourne, show that 2,000 lives there are lost annually from OHCA. It has also been shown that if victims of OHCA receive immediate and appropriate treatment they have a 30 to 70 percent better chance of survival. Quite startling figures! So it is little wonder that life insurance companies have included OHCA in their list of illnesses covered by their trauma insurance policies.

Trauma cover, otherwise known as critical illness insurance, provides a cash lump sum payment when an insured person is diagnosed as having suffered an OHCA. Many other medical conditions are also covered but the listings differ between life insurance companies. The benefit is paid when the diagnosis is determined, not after you die of the condition. In this way it ensures you and your family have sufficient funds at your disposal when needed the most.

Coronary artery disease is the usual cause of OHCA and most people who die of the disease, which accounts for 90 percent of all victims, have major pathological changes in two or more coronary arteries. Hypoxic brain injury occurs at four minutes and death will occur within 12 minutes if no therapy is offered. It has been stated that with ideal pre-hospital care, survival rates could be extended to 70 percent.

If you were unfortunate enough to be stricken with coronary artery disease you would be well pleased to have protected your loved ones with the simple taking out of a trauma insurance policy that would be sufficient to cover your debts, pay off your mortgage and keep your families living standard at an acceptable level. This opportunity was not always available, as trauma insurance was only introduced into Australia in 1986. It was introduced when it became obvious to life insurance companies that a critical illness, such as coronary artery disease, can be just as damaging to a family’s finances as is the death of the breadwinner.

The ultimate success of any resuscitation attempts performed on a victim of OHCA depends on each individual person’s unique features such as:

• Any previous medical condition.
• The cardiac rhythm associated with the collapse.
• Whether the collapse was witnessed or not witnessed.
• The infrastructure in the community able to deal with such a situation like that of fully equipped paramedics.

A system organised to deal successfully with OHCA must also include a ‘chain of survival’. This concept was first described by Cummins in 1991 and has since been adopted by the American Heart Association. It focuses on four critical links, these being:

• 1. Early recognition and access to emergency medical attention.
• 2. Early cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
• 3. Early defibrillation.
• 4. Early advanced cardiac life support.

Communities that can provide such care along this chain will have higher survival rates as a consequence.

Some life insurance companies offer their trauma cover along with a death benefit that has the same pay out figure as the trauma benefit. In this case there will only be one pay out made so that if a successful claim has been made for the trauma benefit the death cover will be lost. It may be a better option for you to consider a term of life insurance cover with a trauma cover attached. In this way you will be able to retain some of the life cover even after a trauma cover claim has been paid out. However, when packaging your insurances in this manner you should ensure that you include a buy back option, otherwise your life cover will be reduced by the amount of the trauma cover pay out.

Following a pay out for a successful trauma claim you may find that you have become un-insurable and therefore will no longer be able to purchase any further death cover to protect your family from any further loss. You can avoid this happening by purchasing a buy back option at the time of taking out the cover, or by having sufficient cover to allow you to live out your remaining years on the proceeds of the initial claim. Buy back options are offered for an extra cost and this will allow you to re-purchase the death benefit lost in the claim being paid, after a stipulated qualifying period of usually 12 months.