Medical Malpractice
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"Over 40 Percent of Heart Attacks Not Diagnosed"

A recent European study has found that more than four in ten heart attacks are not diagnosed when they occur. This risk of undiagnosed heart attacks is even greater for women than men. In fact, one-half of all heart attacks are undiagnosed in females and one-third of heart attacks in men go unrecognized.

This heart attack study was published by cardiovascular experts at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Eric Boersma, one of the lead researchers, notes that, “unattended myocardial infarctions do have prognostic implications in the sense of lowering life expectancy.” This means that when heart attacks go undiagnosed by medical professionals, patients run the risk of dying sooner.

The problem of undiagnosed heart attacks is particularly troubling when it comes to women. Nieca Goldberg M.D. chief of women''s cardiac care at New York City''s Lenox Hill Hospital states that the missed heart attacks occur to women who are already in the health care system.

“Two-thirds of women with a heart attack never make it to a hospital, and these women did make it and the heart attacks were still missed. Obviously, this is a big disappointment.” Some would argue that “disappointment” is an understatement for this kind of failure within the medical community.

According to the study''s authors, missed heart attacks can be detected through periodic electrocardiographic screening (ECG).

While researchers note that the number of deaths from ischemic heart disease are in decline, this type of heart disease will continue to be a major health issue in the coming decades.

Ischemic heart disease—when narrowed arteries restrict oxygen and blood flow—can lead to heart attacks, which can be fatal. Prior studies have found that approximately 44 percent of these heart attacks are “silent” yet none of these findings were conclusive.

Although this new research comes from the Netherlands, experts predict that these same findings would be produced in any developed country.

It is crucial that heart attacks are diagnosed, since the risk of subsequent heart attacks is greater. Also, with proper diagnosis, a patient can receive beneficial preventative treatments, including beta blockers, aspirin, statins, and possible lifestyle change recommendations.