How an Indy woman survived a rare heart attack doctors misdiagnosed
INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — Alissa Bobbitt felt like someone was ripping her heart out of her chest.
The 37-year-old woman from northeast Indianapolis was “pale as a ghost” when she arrived at her doctor’s office on Jan. 18, according to medical records shared with Mirror Indy. She had been vomiting and felt pain traveling down her arms. A provider at Franciscan Health suggested it may have been an anxiety attack but ordered blood tests, just in case.
When the results of those tests came in later that day, though, Bobbitt learned that she may have experienced a heart attack. The provider told her to immediately seek care.
She drove herself to the Community Hospital North emergency room where, after more tests, doctors said she was having constipation or heartburn. They discharged her and suggested she buy antacids.
“The patient looks well and has no cardiac risk factors,” a note in her file read.
Bobbitt, who was writhing in pain and needed morphine, saw her symptoms dismissed, over and over again. Doctors, she said, couldn’t look past her age, petite frame and lack of prior health problems. She wanted them to figure out what was truly wrong.
“I’ve had anxiety my whole life and I know what it feels like,” Bobbitt said. “This wasn’t an anxiety attack.”
Less than 24 hours later, Bobbitt started her day like any other. After the hustle and bustle of breakfast, she left her 3-year-old son with her husband and drove her 13-month-old to daycare.
But she struggled to pick up her son from his car seat. The crushing pain returned.
She made it inside the front entrance of the daycare and collapsed.
Three hours later, doctors rushed her into open heart surgery.
Women in pain often aren’t believed
Hundreds of women like Bobbitt show up at emergency rooms every year with chest pain, nausea and other symptoms.
Young and healthy, they don’t look like a typical heart attack victim to doctors. And the problem in their chests is hard to find without the right tests.
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD, is a type of heart attack where a tear in the arteries blocks blood flow to the heart. It’s estimated to make up to 4% percent of all heart attacks and is the number one cause of heart attacks in women under 50. Yet many doctors are unaware of the condition or struggle to identify it, according to the SCAD Alliance, dismissing female patients and prolonging their pain.
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That was Bobbitt’s experience. During her first ER visit, doctors at Community Hospital North ordered further tests but did not find evidence of a heart attack and chalked up her symptoms to stomach problems. She was discharged in the middle of the night. When she came back the next morning on Jan. 19, she saw a team of cardiologists who found the tear in her artery. She credits them with saving her life.
“It is terrifying to think that in those 24 hours, I came home and went to bed,” Bobbitt said. “I could have died in my sleep.”
Community Health Network declined to comment on Bobbitt’s case, citing patient privacy concerns.
“We make every effort to really listen to the patient to determine the best course of action for their situation,” a spokesperson said in an email to Mirror Indy. “We applaud efforts to promote preventive screenings and for patients to advocate for their care.”
Bobbitt said she doesn’t blame Community Hospital; she believes almost any hospital would have dismissed her concerns. Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes, a cardiologist for the Mayo Clinic, said it’s all too common for SCAD patients to have this experience.
“They don’t look the part,” she said. “Even if they have symptoms of a heart attack, if everything doesn’t confirm it, they may not be given the benefit of the doubt.”
Female patients find that their pain is not taken as seriously, Hayes said, in a medical field that has long prioritized researching and treating conditions that predominantly affect men. The first major SCAD study was in 2012, and it takes time for new discoveries to trickle down to practicing physicians.
“We need to believe women when they come in and tell us there’s something wrong,” Hayes said.
Phyllis Greenberger, an advocate who recently published a book called “Sex Cells: The Fight to Overcome Bias and Discrimination in Women’s Healthcare,” said female patients need to demand that providers take their symptoms seriously.
“You can’t take no for an answer if you’re having certain pains,” Greenberger said. “If a doctor tells you it’s because of anxiety, I’d get another doctor.”
‘Do everything and do it right’
When EMTs found Bobbitt slumped on the floor at her son’s daycare in January, she remembers them telling her it was likely a panic attack. They offered an ambulance ride to the hospital, but Bobbitt had her husband drive instead; even though her heart was bursting, she was afraid of a bill that could cost thousands.
The causes of SCAD are unclear, according to the Mayo Clinic, but there’s evidence it can be triggered by extreme stress.
In the months leading up to her heart attack, Bobbitt’s husband had a hernia and lost his job, her baby son was hospitalized for four days with rhinovirus and an elevated heartbeat, and another family member was in a car accident. She was parenting, working full-time in accounting and staring down nearly $17,000 in medical bills.
“It’s my personality to do everything and do it right,” Bobbitt said.
Her older sister, Amanda Cook, was worried about the pressure and added responsibilities. She encouraged Bobbitt to seek medical care, and started a GoFundMe to help the family.
“She eats, drinks and breathes making sure her children have a comfortable life,” Cook said.
But during her recovery after surgery, Bobbitt couldn’t do anything for her children — not even hold them. She was hospitalized for a week and will have to spend months in cardiac rehabilitation and physical therapy to find a new normal in her body. She will see a cardiologist for the rest of her life.
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“She felt like she couldn’t contribute to the household while she was healing, which was really hard to see as a big sister,” Cook said. “It was unwarranted guilt for going through open heart surgery.”
‘Mom’s heart got broken’
Bobbitt’s youngest son, Eli, was still breastfeeding before she was hospitalized. She loved nursing so much that she donated 200 ounces to a milk bank. But after surgery, her milk dried up.
“We had such a close bond and it was just gone,” Bobbitt said, her voice shaking.
She spent most days on the couch, alone. Sometimes, she logged onto Facebook to read the stories of other women who had SCAD. A nearby tray held her pill bottles and a blood pressure cuff. Whenever she needed to sneeze or laugh, she squeezed a bright-red, heart shaped pillow. Her rib cage is wired shut.
“I don’t blame them,” she said when asked about the doctors who misdiagnosed her.
But if they had just listened, she wonders, if they had found the tear sooner, could open heart surgery have been avoidable instead of inevitable? If no one had seen the tear, would she still be here?
Three-year-old Oliver understood he could not jump in his mother’s lap or play with her anymore.
“Mom’s heart got broken,” he would say.
Easter was the first holiday since surgery. She woke up at dawn with her husband to hide colorful plastic eggs filled with quarters, candy and toy monster trucks. Her sons searched the backyard in a treasure hunt.
In between their morning giggles, she thought about what it meant to live through something terrible and survive.
Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.