There’s a brutal truth we need to confront in Scotland: fear is killing people.

Every year, around 3,200 Scots suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, of which fewer than one in 10 survive.

We recently took a closer look at this figure and discovered that 7% of Scots have witnessed a first aid emergency, but didn’t step in to help. While this may seem a minute figure, the reality is worryingly different.

That 7% held back by fear-driven inaction equates to over 200 lives lost in Scotland every single year. That’s more than 200 partners, parents, colleagues, children, siblings and friends gone – not because help was unavailable, but because people stood by, paralysed by self-doubt.

And that’s just one factor. It doesn’t include the wider incidents that occur in the everyday. Those people who have a fall, experience concussion, choking, a........

© Herald Scotland