After an unconscious person is found and emergency services are called, a concerned bystander can turn to YouTube for a reminder about performing CPR.
But the site shows ads before videos showing how to perform the life-saving intervention. The ads last up to three minutes and some can only be skipped after 30 seconds.
DailyMail.com found supermarket and shoe ads slowing down first aid videos created by hospital systems, paramedics and CPR trainers. Ads can be personalized depending on the videos used by users.
A woman in Germany died earlier this year after her CPR was delayed due to her helper having to sit through 18 seconds of ads on the platform. Google-owned YouTube did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
YouTube advertises companies including Eataly (pictured) and Birkenstock for first aid videos
Concerns have been raised that the ads will delay someone receiving care in life-threatening situations when every second counts
The videos come from groups including hospital systems, paramedics, and CPR trainers
DailyMail.com found at least seven videos on YouTube about CPR and first aid that were blocked by the company’s ads.
Emergency responders say every second counts during an emergency and can mean the difference between life and death.
For example, if the heart stops, it takes less than five minutes for brain cells to die from lack of oxygen. The longer it takes to resuscitate a patient, the greater the chance of serious brain damage and death.
Videos that YouTube blocked with ads had titles like “How to resuscitate a baby,” “How to resuscitate,” and “How to help a child or adult who is choking.”
In the infant CPR video, an expert demonstrates how to place a baby on a folded towel and then gently blow into the lungs five times.
Someone then has to press on the chest to stimulate the lungs and blood flow and help restart the heart.
In the choking video, experts say if the blockage is partial, someone should be told to cough repeatedly to clear it.
But if they can’t clear the blockage, the first step is to have them lean forward and repeatedly slap their back firmly. Failing this, they recommend the Heimlich maneuver, in which the hands are clasped on a person’s lower chest and pulled back and up quickly to help release the blockage.
In another video about helping unconscious people who have fallen, medics told them to keep the patient still, clean any wounds with water and, if they stop breathing, administer CPR.
The videos were published by organizations including Yashoda Hospitals – Hyderabad, a hospital system based in India, and Emergency Cardiac Care, a channel run by paramedics including Jason Grady of Northeast Georgia Medical Center.
Other publishers included CPRCertified.com, which offers courses on how to perform CPR care in Texas.
Advertisements appeared from shoemaker Birkenstock and grocer Eataly, among others.
Previous cases of YouTube ads getting in the way of people administering medical care have been reported in Germany earlier this year, among others.
A German woman died last year after her CPR was delayed by 18 seconds because her helper had to watch ads before accessing CPR videos
Stijn Oude Vrielink, originally from the Netherlands, has urged YouTube to remove ads from the videos
Resident Stijn Oude Vrielink, originally from the Netherlands, said he was home one Monday evening when his neighbor came to his door and went into cardiac arrest.
He immediately called emergency services and then searched online for how to resuscitate a patient to help the woman.
But after clicking a link on YouTube, he had to go through 18 seconds of ads before being shown how to help the patient.
He told the local newspaper General Journaltranslated from his native Dutch into English: ‘Every second counts when it comes to saving someone’s life.
And those 18 seconds were damn long, I can tell you. All I could think was: why now!’
After a few minutes he was able to resuscitate until the ambulance arrived. The woman was taken to hospital, but later died.
Mr. Vrielink adds: ‘After the event I thought and talked about it a lot. I kept thinking about the commercials that cost someone’s life seconds in a situation like that.’
Google, which owns YouTube, said at the time that it was “saddened” by the fatal accident in response to the report.
A spokesperson adds: ‘Although YouTube is a platform where creators can provide useful medical information, we want to emphasize that it is always necessary to consult or call medical professionals. [emergency services] in emergency situations.’
It did not comment on whether commercials could be removed from these videos.
It comes after a separate complaint about ads for medical advice videos in 2021, when it told users to consider buying YouTube Premium to avoid the clips.