BMJ 1996;312:459-460 (24 February)

Editorials

Triggering a heart attack

Compensation may be justified after physical exertion but not emotional upset

Headlines such as "Shopkeeper dies while chasing thieves" and the ever increasing volume of letters from solicitors to cardiologists testify to the fact that the press and public are convinced that heart attacks are triggered by events. For bereaved relatives, sadness and grief may turn to loneliness and bitterness, and increasingly today to a desire to blame something or someone. The sympathetic solicitor in his office in the hospital foyer lends a willing ear and seeks expert advice. Employers and insurers also want an answer to the question of what triggers a heart attack.

The suspicion that vigorous physical effort might provoke myocardial infarction was raised some 60 years ago.1 Emotional distress has likewise been incriminated.2 More recent studies have corroborated these findings. The MILIS (Multicenter Investigation of Limitation of Infarct Size) investigators, for example, found that antecedent physical . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Myocardial infarction at work cannot be regarded as an accident
U J Kirkpatrick and C N Mccollum
BMJ 1996 312: 1423. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Petch, M C (2002). Heart disease, guidelines, regulations, and the law. Heart 87: 472-479 [Full text]  
  • Kirkpatrick, U J, Mccollum, C N (1996). Myocardial infarction at work cannot be regarded as an accident. BMJ 312: 1423a-1423 [Full text]  
  • Foulkes, W., Neylon, N. (1996). Relative contribution should be given after each author's name. BMJ 312: 1423c-1423 [Full text]  
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