

A Tale of Two Heart Attacks

Medical Author: Benjamin Wedro, MD, FAAEM
Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD



Sudden cardiac death doesn't really care if the heart attack was mild or not. The most common reason people die in the midst of a heart attack is due to an electrical short circuit caused by heart muscle that has been irritated.

In Mr. Russert's case, bystanders were ready to use an automatic external defibrillator (AED), but the paramedics arrived at the same time to deliver electrical shocks to the heart to treat the ventricular fibrillation. The treatment failed, and they were unable to reverse Mr. Russert's death.