Conclusions and Relevance There was no significant difference in sustained return of spontaneous circulation between sodium bicarbonate and placebo in adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest. These findings do not support routine administration of sodium bicarbonate for patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest.
The logic for bicarb use here was basically the same as for injecting bleach to cure an infection: it works in a test tube. There was no clinical evidence for it.
In fact the evidence against its use goes back to at least 1976: