CPR often takes the role of an impassioned social response to situations that by all manner of reasonable criteria do not represent anything other than an impossible situation. It is sometimes obvious to the simplest of assessments that CPR would not be successful in resuscitating the individual. Short of decapitation, unreasonable expectations are common. Sometimes rigor mortis is not recognized. When the person is young, or the onset is particularly sudden in an otherwise healthy individual, unrealistic expectations are more common. CPR is often continued in persons of considerable notoriety long after it would be discontinued in someone of no fame or celebrity.
When a person already attached to a defibrillator develops ventricular fibrillation and looses consciousness the appropriate life saving intervention is not CPR but immediate defibrillation. Sadly this sometimes does not occur. Because of an an intense and unrealistic advertising campaign CPR is often begun immediately so that a defibrillator can be brought in when one is already connected.
Casual and judgmental observation by onlookers is all too often a fact of life
When the situation around a person in cardiac arrest is often chaotic. Confusion and panic can have negative consequences. The most arrogant person on the scene is usually in control. The more circumspect person is often thinking “whatever”. CPR on a person not just in cardiac arrest but already dead is not just useless. There are people nearby who are still alive and would like to remain that way.