Is it possible for the heart to simply stop, without disease, thus killing someone who is exerting no strain?

Question

I was talking to a friend who claims to know of someone who was standing around before band practice talking to his mates, and he stopped mid-sentence, complained about feeling ill, keeled over and died. The cause, according to this friend of mine, was simply that his heart had stopped, not caused by disease, poisoning etc., it just simply stopped beating, as if it had run its course for this man's life.

I'm wondering, is this medically possible?

Answer 1

It is called Sudden Cardiac Death, and now it is becoming more common in the US with around 300,000 suddenly dying from it. This problem ends your life with a cessation of heartbeat due to a rhythm abnormality known as Ventricular Fibrillation, where the electrical pattern of the heart is disrupted, causing the muscles to quiver instead of beat. There are usually causes of SCD, but sometimes, the heart just may lose rhythm for unknown reasons. The most common causes of SCD are: cardiomyopathy, LVH, RVH, ARVD and Long QT Syndrome. The latter usually goes unseen until SCD occurs. Cardiomyopathy, LVH, RVH and ARVD can be detected with a cardiothoracic echocardiogram and many doctors can recognize it in an instant, however, only an ECG can determine whether a person has LQTS, and usually doctors don't screen for this in a routine ECG.

Answer 2

For various reasons, some persons develop a sudden, fatal arrhythmia called ventricular fibrillation. The heart muscles do not contract in concert, and the patient dies. It is difficult to determine the reason for this on post-mortem exam.

Answer 3

it is not only possible it is happening with alarming frequency, it is called sudden cardiac arrest. No two cases have been found to have a commonality thus far.

Answer 4

Yes it is!