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Misdiagnosed Heart Attack: What Doctors Should Have Done

A 29-year-old male experienced strong chest pain and severe shortness of breath accompanied by shooting pain down his left arm. Classic signs of a heart attack - but in a man so young?

Doctors discharged the man because both his EKG and cardiac enzyme (troponin and CPK) test results were normal. In addition, he had no family history or heart attack but did have a history of anxiety attacks.

Doctors thought the diagnosis was anxiety attack based on that information. In fact, the doctors were so sure of their faulty diagnosis, that they discharged the patient too early. The proper procedure to follow when any adult presents signs of a heart attack is to monitor them for 24 hours even if their initial test results do not indicate a heart attack.

This unfortunate man entered the emergency room in the early afternoon and was discharged that evening. The next morning, less than 24 hours after admission to the ER, the man collapsed from a severe heart attack. Cardiologists performed a heart catheterization to relieve the blockage, but the man suffered severe ventricular damage.

Now his life expectancy is significantly lowered and he cannot even walk up a flight of stairs without suffering shortness of breath. Had the doctors simply observed him for 24 hours as the conservative standard of care calls for, this tragic injury may have been prevented.

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