A plot point of a book I am reading involves faking a heart attack. A older man in poor physical condition takes cocaine to elevate his heart rate and make himself sweaty and flushed. According to the characters, this fooled the hospital into thinking he had a heart attack. Dangerous, the narration wanton, because there was a chance this could have triggered a real heart attack.
My understanding in real life is that confirming a heart attack is pretty foolproof, and involves checking for the presence of certain proteins in the blood. Cocaine symptoms would never be mistaken for a heart attack at the hospital.
Am I right? Or did Dennis Lehane do more research than I give him credit for?