Utah attorney performs life-saving CPR mid-hearing, credits time in Boy Scouts

LAS VEGAS — Attorney David Winterton was cross-examining the opposing counsel's client in bankruptcy court on May 11 when his heart stopped. Within seconds, opposing counsel Matt Johnson jumped to his aid, using life-saving skills he learned in Boy Scouts more than 45 years ago.

"Right after my client answered a question, David just dropped to the floor right in front of me," Johnson, of Eden, Weber County, told KSL. "I jumped down and noticed he was breathing, but it sounded almost like he was snoring. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and I jumped down and was asking him, 'Are you OK, David? Are you OK?' with no response whatsoever.

"That probably went on for 10 to 20 seconds, and then he stopped breathing ... and then I checked his pulse on both wrists and both sides of his neck. Nothing. He was not breathing, and no heartbeat. So, I started doing CPR."

Johnson had never performed CPR before, but learned it as a Boy Scout when he was 11 years old. He said he continued CPR for 10 minutes until a manual defibrillator was brought in to assist. When things weren't improving, and they were awaiting the arrival of first responders, Johnson recalled something else he had learned from his time as a Scout.

"We were taught, 'When he's red, lift his head. When he's pale, lift his tail,' meaning if you see that their face is very white, you need to lift their legs up. If you see that his head is really red, you put their legs down to get the blood flowing. David was completely white.

"I told the other attorney who was in the room, 'Lift his tail! Lift his tail! I mean, lift his legs!'

"When there were points when I thought he was gone, I told myself, 'Do not stop. You just keep pumping until the ambulance gets here.' So, I kept pumping."

When the ambulance finally arrived, Johnson said it took only a few shocks with the automated defibrillator to get Winterton breathing again, and he was able to answer one very important question — the name of his wife. After trying several different ways to get his wife's phone number, Johnson was able to call her and explain what was happening.

"I got a call from our secretary who said that Dave was at the courthouse and they were giving him CPR," said Nickie Winterton, David Winterton's wife. "When I heard that, I couldn't even think. I was like, 'Heavenly Father, don't take my husband from me. Please, I need him.'"

Winterton was visiting the couple's children in Utah County when she got the call, adding that a few minutes after the initial call, Johnson called with the news she had been praying for.

"Matt called me and said, 'I wanted you to know that I've been giving your husband CPR and the paramedics are here,'" she recalled. "He said, 'I think everything will be fine. I just want you to know, so you don't worry.' He was so nice to call me to let me know that Dave's had CPR and is breathing again."

Nickie Winterton and her two daughters immediately drove to Las Vegas to meet David Winterton at the hospital. She said that had Johnson not been there that day, the outcome would have been very different.

"To think that if it would have happened anywhere else — on the drive to the courtroom — he would have never gotten the help he needed," Winterton said. "If it happened at home, I would have headed home to bury my husband and not visit him in the hospital."

The judge presiding that day was 9th Circuit Appellate Judge Gary Spraker, and, according to Johnson, there were some profound statements made in the courtroom.

"After the incident, we were in the courtroom, and the judge said how impressed he was and said that what happened really put things in perspective," Johnson said. "The judge told us, 'On one hand, we have life. On the other hand, we have a trial. What's really more important than life and humanity?'"

"As attorneys, we're on the other side of the table from one another, and we're at each other's throats," Johnson added. "Even though we are opposing, I've always thought it was wise to treat opposing counsel with kindness. It was a pleasure to be able to assist someone on the other side and help them survive what could have been their last day on Earth."

David Winterton is at home resting with his family in Las Vegas and is expected to make a full recovery from what they were told was a fluke stop of his heart. Nickie Winterton said doctors also told her the CPR Johnson performed kept her husband alive that day.

"The nurses and doctors said that Dave went 15 minutes without any oxygen, but it didn't affect his brain or any of his limbs because the CPR kept pumping that blood into his body," she said. "The CPR and chest compressions circulated the blood through the body and kept him alive.

"Matt is our hero," she continued. "I was thinking that if everybody was like Matt, we would not have any strife in the world. Everybody would watch out for everybody. I can't tell you how many times throughout the day I think of how thankful I am for Matt Johnson, and I haven't even met him yet."

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