When men have a heart attack, it’s much more likely that they will exhibit rather cliché or expected symptoms. They may talk about not being able to catch their breath or that they feel like there is a crushing weight on their chest. Chest pain is perhaps the most common symptom, and this pain can sometimes radiate or move down the arm. Sweating is very common, as men just feel generally uncomfortable.
But when women have heart attacks, they often don’t talk about chest pain, crushing weights, arm pain and things of this nature. They more often discuss symptoms like shortness of breath, nausea, neck pain or jaw pain and the like. Women sometimes describe feeling dizzy, faint or fatigued.
Why doctors get it wrong
What studies have found is that doctors are more likely to make a misdiagnosis with a female patient precisely because they tend to look for male symptoms. When a female patient describes her symptoms, the doctor’s first thought is not that she’s having a heart attack. Therefore, that physician is much more likely to make a different diagnosis – illness, indigestion, stress, anxiety attack, etc.
Of course, this can be highly detrimental to the patient’s health. For example, imagine that a doctor tells a female patient she’s just having indigestion because of something she ate. He then tells her to go home, take a nap and relax. But if she does so while actively having a heart attack, she could pass away.
If you have lost a loved one or suffered harm due to medical malpractice, make sure you know exactly what options you have moving forward.