A Texas university law professor suffered a heart attack in the middle of a lecture and was rescued by his students, including a Navy SEAL veteran whom he credits with saving his life. Michael Maslanka, a 73-year-old associate professor, was teaching at the UNT Dallas College of Law when he told his students he might not be able to continue, then suddenly blacked out on Oct. 6.
Students sprang into action when Maslanka collapsed. Among them was third-year student Matthew Melton, a 45-year-old Navy SEAL veteran who had previously taught CPR classes while serving in the US Special Forces. Melton, who was deployed to Bahrain in 2001 and Iraq in 2005, performed three rounds of CPR on the professor. He said his experience in conflict zones taught him to "always be able and ready to pivot and always be open to what might happen." "Students were freaking out. Action needed to be taken," he told the law school.S2
The resuscitation was difficult. Maslanka regained consciousness, then went out again, and Melton alternated between chest compressions and forced air. "When I did the first compression, I could hear his ribs break," Melton said. When Maslanka came to, he shouted, but he was unaware of his surroundings. While Melton worked on him, a classmate, Sanchez, who had lost her father to a heart attack two years earlier, turned to prayer. "Everyone was bawling," she said.S2
Maslanka experienced ventricular tachycardia, an abnormal heart rhythm in which the upper and lower chambers of the heart fall out of sync. He spent 11 days recovering in the hospital. Speaking to WFAA, he paid tribute to his students: "They knew what to do. They organized themselves intuitively. And that saved my life. I would not be here today if my students did not act quickly, thoughtfully and responsibly. I would be dead."S2
Maslanka, who joined the university in 2015, has since returned to the law college to teach ethics and employment law. Reports also note that 12 years ago he appeared in a Texas Bar program titled "Mike Maslanka @ your desk," where he encouraged students to "think like a SEAL," and that he has written an article, "Four Life Hacks That Dying (Twice) Taught Me," due to be published in Texas Lawyer.S2
