 FACT: Anyone who has been trained in CPR knows that the first step  before performing compressions on the heart is to make sure that the  heart has actually stopped beating. After his first heart attack,  Harry Sanborn is talking, which means that he is breathing and his  heart is beating. You should never be performing CPR in this  situation. In fact, the compressions could have a negative effect on  the hearts rhythm. When one of the characters later says that Erica  "saved" Harrys life with CPR, this is untrue.