Article: Patients urged to demand immediate artery-clearing

Patients with chest pain or mild heart attacks who are rushed to the hospital on nights and weekends should demand doctors immediately operate to clear their arteries rather than waiting for the workweek to begin.

A study presented Monday at the American Heart Association's annual meeting found some patients are 35 percent less likely to have a heart attack, suffer a stroke or die if they are treated within 24 hours. Many hospitals delay treatment until cardiac catheterization lab staff members who clear clogged arteries return from the weekend, the researchers said.

Numerous studies show patients should get to the hospital as quickly as possible if they develop chest pain, and those ...

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