Australians dying of embarrassment rather than heeding heart attack warnings

The risk of embarrassment, not wanting to be a bother and fear of the outcome are some of the reasons people experiencing a heart attack make the fatal choice in putting off seeking medical help, according to an article published in The Medical Journal of Australia.

Co-author and chair of the Heart Foundation Chest Pain Working Group, Professor Peter Thompson, says that each year in Australia there are more than 48,000 major coronary events, half of which are fatal.

Many deaths and significant cardiac disability result from delayed response to symptoms of heart attack. The major component of this delay is the time people take in deciding to seek help.

“If someone gets the right treatment within one to two hours it can halve the risk of death. Right now Australians take more than three hours to get to hospital and it’s costing them their lives,” says Prof Thompson.