Stone Cold Healthy

I was evaluating a 45 year-old woman with chest pain in the emergency room. Obviously, one of our major concerns was the possibility of a heart attack. So I was asking her about things that might put her at higher risk for having a heart attack.

Has she ever had a heart attack before? Does she smoke? Does she have high blood pressure or diabetes? Every question the woman answered a reassuring ‘no.’

I asked her if her parents had any heart problems.

‘Oh, no,’ she said, flatly.

I asked if they had any health problems.

‘No,’ she said.

I asked how old they were.

‘They both died when they were in their forties.’

I asked how they died.

‘Heart Attacks.’