Cause of death heart attack question

[Curmudgeona]

Fortunately, I have no heart problems at present. I am working on a short story in which there is a question whether a person has died from a fall or a heart attack.  What I need to know is this: is there a technique for making at least a preliminary judgement of heart attack without doing an internal autopsy?  That is, are there any recognizable external signs?  

[ireneo]

The story sounds interesting. I'm a big fan of mysteries. Good luck

[Curmudgeona]

Thanks, everyone. Here's how I am going to solve this: My character is found at the base of a steep rock incline that they think she might have been climbing. Because my character, a 54-year-old, has no bruises, scratches, broken bones or any other sign of falling, they are going to conclude that she 'probably' had a heart attack and may not yet have attempted to climb the rock face.  That gives my living character enough to go on for his next move.  The problem arose because he has to take action on something before there is time for an autopsy.

I didn't mean to mark any one answer as 'best' - I'm new on this forum and clicked it by accident. ALL answers were helpful.

[ed34]

There would be no external signs of heart attack and the only way to establish the condition of the heart is through autopsy. When my Mother was admitted to emergency, she had no chest pains, no prior problems, and was just short of breath. They told me to return in the morning. When I arrived, they informed me that she had passed away in the night. They assured me before I went home that there was nothing wrong with her heart. The autopsy revealed severe artery disease which was concluded as cause of death.

[ireneo]

How severe was the fall? Off a curb or off a cliff? A trip off a curb isn't as likely to result in death unless there's a skull injury which might be palpable on first exam. That and eye exam for hyphema and anisocoria.

When my Dad took a fall at the hospital (messed up his face pretty badly) they couldn't tell at first whether it was a simple stumble of an elderly person or his heart. After interrogating his ICD, they discovered his heart had gone in serious v-tach and he was zapped by the ICD. So my guess is if medical personnel can't tell right away without some exam, there must not be many external indications of heart problems.