Signs for HEART ATTACK

Meaning: A sudden painful and sometimes fatal condition in which one's heart stops beating properly.

Related signs: HEART.

Like in English, in ASL, the sign 'heart attack' is often interchangeable with other terms such as 'cardiac arrest' and 'heart failure'.

Heart attack, cardiac arrest, and heart failure are medically different things. Simply put, "The American Heart Association (AHA) describes the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest as a circulation issue compared with an electrical problem." Ref Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle fails to pump as much blood as the body needs.

The signs HEART ATTACK refers to the blood flow to the HEART being blocked. Another sign HEART STOP or HEART+BEAT+STOP (cardiac arrest) refers to the heart stopping BEATS. HEART FAILURE (or HEART+WEAK+BEAT) refers to the heart not having enough power to pump blood flow to the body.

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