Star of Death

This tragic story in yesterday's Washington Post.

A brief summary:

A 39 year old man who was having chest pain and shortness of breath had complete resolution of his symptoms after about 6 hours. The bad news is that the symptoms went away right along with that nagging heartbeat he had.

This man was never seen at a hospital, because a paramedic somehow convinced him he would be better served taking Pepto-Bismol for what they said was "probably reflux", instead of transporting him to a hospital for further evaluation.

6 hours later he was dead. At home.

The article states that EMS "checked his vital signs and performed an electrocardiogram, the results of which they said were normal."

There are at least a couple dozen potential diagnoses that can present with shortness of breath or chest pain or both. Some are life threatening some are not. But I do not remember the part of my paramedic training where the taking of vitals and a "normal" EKG precluded you from a trip to see the smiling face of your local emergency room physician.

The article also reports that the medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death. I could save the county a few bucks and the medical examiner some time. Cause of death: Incompetence.