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Pothole may have saved man's life

FILE PHOTO: An ambulance driver hit a pothole on the way to an emergency room and jarred a patient's heart back into rhythm.

GRETNA, Neb. — A man’s life may have been saved thanks to a pothole.

Most people have nothing good to say about the craters that pop up on roads. But when Gretna Rescue emergency responders were rushing the unidentified man to the hospital, the ambulance driver hit a hole in the road, according to WOWT.

The jarring of the rig got the man's heartbeat, which was racing at 200 beats a minute, back to normal, the medics told Lakeside Hospital emergency room over the scanner, WOWT reported.

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"It's rare, but it's a well-described phenomenon," Dr. Andrew Goldsweig told WOWT.

Goldsweig didn’t treat the patient, but told WOWT that there was another case of a speed bump helping get a patient’s heart in normal rhythm in the ‘70s.

“One way to treat that is with an electrical shock. Classically, you’ll see it on television. The paddles, ‘Clear’ and a big jolt. Turns out, you can do that with a pothole,” Goldsweig explained.