My mother died of a heart attack less than twelve hours after she was sent home from the ER. She shouldn’t have died that night. She was a victim of a problem that unfortunately is far too common: Doctors ignoring symptoms of heart attack in women.

 

My mother was 63 when she died but looked ten years younger. She was also in incredible shape. A week before, we’d gone walking together and she had more energy than I did at 29.

 

The day my mom died she’d been out in the sun. It was a hot day. She started feeling unwell, so she went home to rest. When she still didn’t feel better a few hours later, my aunt suggested they visit an urgent care clinic nearby the house.

 

At the clinic, my mother complained to the physician’s assistant assigned to treat her of tightness in her chest and jaw, pain radiating in her left arm, clamminess, sweatiness, and shortness of breath – all classic signs of a heart attack in women. But it was 4:45 in the afternoon on a Sunday, and I suspect the doctor just wanted to get home. He told my mother she was dehydrated from the heat. She should just go home, cool off and rest. He prescribed ibuprofen, one of the worst things you can give to someone having a heart attack. He told her to eat a popsicle and drink lots of water.

 

Tragically, my mother took the PA’s advice. She went to bed early, complaining that she still felt ill. My grandma, who was in her late 80s at the time, found my mother the next morning dead in her bed.

 

I wish my aunt had taken my mother to the hospital instead of to a clinic. I wish my mother had seen a doctor and not just a physician’s assistant. I wish that one of our family members who was with her at the time knew more about women and heart disease. But sadly for us, this is the way things happened, a chain of errors. And my mother, my vibrant, beautiful mother, passed away as a result.

 

Since then, I’ve learned a lot about heart disease. Every day in the US, it’s like one plane full of women crashes into the ground and dies from it. Given our family history, my sister and I are now getting our hearts checked regularly.

 

But the main message I have to share with other women is this: Stand up for yourself and take action. If you think there’s even a remote chance that you’re having a heart attack, insist on having an EKG. Don’t worry that your family or the doctors will think you’re silly if you’re wrong. Take the time to get yourself checked out. If you aren’t completely satisfied, ask to speak to a second physician. You have to take responsibility for your own care. It’s worth your time and money. If you’re going to be alive the next day, it’s worth it. My mother was not alive the next day, and I miss her.