Damar Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, collapsed on the field during a Monday night football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2, 2023.
Medical staff gave Hamlin CPR and shocked him with a defibrillator, restarting his heart’s normal rhythm. News outlets immediately began speculating that Hamlin may have suffered from commotio cordis – a potentially lethal stoppage of the heart caused by a strong impact to a person’s chest. The next day, the Bills announced that Hamlin had indeed experienced “cardiac arrest” but did not confirm whether the cause was commotio cordis.
