Heart attack

A Michigan man was found dead in a parked car after he had apparently Googled his symptoms on a university computer, CBS Detroit reports.

Cops found the man’s body in a car in the parking lot of Grand Valley State University. The man, who was in his late 30s, was not a student at the university, but there are indications that he visited the school’s computer lab.

“It appears that he had been using the university’s computer lab and was researching health issues, actually specific symptoms of a health problem, which may give us an indication of what was going on, ” Lt. Patrick Merrill told the CBS affiliate.

The symptoms were chest pain, tightness in the chest and sweating — symptoms of a heart attack, or myocardial infarction (MI).

“Maybe he thought he would just lay down for a minute and feel a little better, but unfortunately he passed away,” Merrill said.

It’s possible that the man was Googling his symptoms before going to the emergency room.

While it is important to know your symptoms so you can be better prepared to explain your problem to emergency room staff, you should rush to the nearest ER if you experience chest pain and tightness in your chest. The problem could be as simples as gas or as serious as a heart attack.

Nurses and doctors are trained to recognize symptoms in specific patterns. If that pattern is off by even one symptom, it could mean life or death for you.

There are many documented cases of ER patients being sent home to die because they presented in an emergency room with the wrong symptoms.

ER doctors and nurses are quick to label black or Hispanic patients as drug seekers if you don’t know your symptoms.

Anna Brown was only 29 when she died because she din’t know the proper pattern of symptoms for deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. She was thrown into jail when she begged doctors to treat her leg pain. She died on the floor of the jail cell.

Educating yourself about your symptoms could save your life. Visit WebMD Symptom Checker for more information.