QuestionHello. I am wondering when a young person is brought to a hospital and dies, (age 36) if the hospital makes sure the person did not have something that others could "catch"? If the word is it was a heart attack did the hospital most likely check the patient out good?
Do hospitals have a certain obligation to make sure it was not something contagious?
Thanks.
AnswerWhen I work in the ER, if someone came in and dies, either just prior to getting there or in the ER, we look at the potential cause of death. If it appears to be heart related and not from an infectious disease, it is unlikely that any additional testing would be done. But, if the person came in with a history of fever, or stiff neck, or something to make us think it was an infectious disease, like meningitis or other illnesses, then we would do a thorough evaluation of the person to make sure that others are not at risk of the same. Now, age 36 is very young to be having heart attacks, unless there are other things going on, like amphetamine or cocaine use, or the person has other illnesses, like longstanding diabetes, or sickle cell disease, etc, so I am not sure I would write off a 36 year old's death as simply "heart" unless I had that additional information.
Hope this helps....
