Roy Rochlin/Getty ImagesBy AARON KATERSKY and MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Mehmet Oz helped save the life of a man who collapsed at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday night.
The celebrity doctor, who hosts the daytime television talk show The Dr. Oz Show, had just arrived at the New Jersey airport on a flight from Florida with his family when they saw a man fall to the ground in the baggage claim area of Terminal C around 11 p.m. The man was foaming at the mouth and bleeding from where he had hit his head on the floor, Oz’s representative told ABC News.
Officer Jeffrey Croissant of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department was on patrol in the area and rushed to help the man, who was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Croissant immediately called for back-up and started to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the man. Oz, a practicing heart surgeon, ran over to help Croissant revive the man, according to a statement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department.
Within minutes, more officers arrived on scene with oxygen and a defibrillator. After several more cycles of CPR, the man began to breathe on his own and was stabilized. The 60-year-old New Jersey resident was transported to a local hospital in intensive care and is undergoing further evaluation, police said.
In a statement released Tuesday, Oz confirmed he performed CPR with the help of the officer and cleared the man’s airway.
“Thankfully, Newark Airport had a defibrillator nearby that we were able to use to save his life,” Oz said. “As a physician and a human being, it’s our responsibility to jump in when there’s a medical emergency. Another critical reminder of how important it is to take the time to learn how to do CPR and use a defibrillator. You could save a life.”
Oz has stayed in touch with the man’s wife to make sure he is OK, according to his representative.
Croissant told ABC News that he didn’t recognize Oz at first because face masks are required at the airport, but once he did, the officer thought, “What better help to have than a cardiac surgeon?”
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