Sudden death from heart failure - what does this mean?

[Lemons1571]

My DDad died suddenly last week. He had all the symptoms of heart failure, was on heart medication, and had only just been discharged from hospital for an unrelated non-fatal matter. I know he had aortic stenosis (calcium affecting a valve) but that was being monitored.

Does anyone know if heart failure means he died of a heart attack? He was found in his chair, but didn’t have time to press his wrist alarm button (or maybe he forgot it was there?). Or is heart failure something where he just passed out and never woke up? I can’t find any info on this at all.

The paramedic said there was a little electrical activity when he was found? But he flatlined soon after.

Just want to understand what happened a bit better.

I have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Main symptoms for me are breathlessness when stressed or on exertion, swollen legs and dizziness. It was discovered after an ECG showed an electrical defect and an echo showed stiffened heart muscle/reduced pumping capacity (ejection fraction). Luckily for me the heart medications have made me feel much better.

It does sound like your Dad's symptoms were consistent with heart failure and good to hear that this was a peaceful way to go. It certainly sounds like there wasn't a lot of joined up thinking in relation to a diagnosis for him 💐