June 14, 2008­–PITTSBURGH–We at the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation express our heartfelt sympathy to the family of Tim Russert, who died suddenly yesterday afternoon in the NBC studios. Tim could not be resuscitated despite the fact than an intern provided cardiopulmonary resusciation (CPR) and D.C. EMS arrived quickly and treated Russert with a defibrillator.

The tragedy of this profound loss to the Russert family and his extensive network of friends and colleagues in journalism and politics would be all the more tragic if it turns out that NBC did not have an automated external defibrillator (AED) on site--or even worse had one, but somehow neglected to find or use it.

On the other hand, Tim’s death may not have been preventable, given his extensive underlying coronary artery disease.