The death of Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz left many people suprised in part because he was healthy and fit with no history of heart disease.
But doctors said even people in the best of health with no signs of cardiovascular disease can suffer a deadly attack that stops the heart. Sometimes it is the first sign of heart problems. Kamenetz died from cardiac arrest, which is when the heart stops. But doctors believe a heart attack led to the arrest.
“Some people just come in out of the blue having been seemingly perfectly healthy,” said Dr. Gail Cunningham, chief medical officer at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, where Kamenetz was taken for treatment and was later pronounced dead.
Cunningham said this happens when a blood vessel suddenly becomes blocked, which starves the heart of blood and oxygen. The organ then stops working. Damage to the heart can began in minutes, doctors said.
“It is actually very common for the first manifestation of underlying heart disease to be a major heart attack,” said Dr. Roger Blumenthal, director of the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at The Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease.
In 2017, Maryland emergency medical services reported 6,888 sudden out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, according to the Greater Maryland American Heart Association and American Stroke Association.
Kamenetz received CPR at Chestnut Ridge Volunteer Fire Co., where he went and called 911. While this keeps some blood flow throughout the body, it is not the same as the heart beating on its own, Cunningham said.
Fire department personnel there also tried to jump start Kamenetz’s heart three times with a defibrillator. Medics from Baltimore County’s Garrison fire station arrived a short time later and administered CPR, gave Kamenetz cardiac drugs and performed “airway management.”
It is unclear which of Kamenetz’s arteries was blocked and the family has chosen not to have an autopsy performed.
“I don’t know what his underlying pathology was, so I don’t know if this was one vessel or maybe he had several that were borderline and one was suddenly blocked,” Cunningham said. “I just don’t know.”
Cunningham said it is also hard to tell if the the stress of a gubernatorial campaign, which involves a grueling schedule of debates, meet and greets and other activities could have put too much pressure on his heart.
“Stress can be a contributor to heart problems, but not necessarily,” Cunningham said.
Kamenetz was a healthy eater who liked granola and yogurt, said Elise Armacost, a Baltimore County public safety spokeswoman. He wasn’t overweight and visited a doctor regularly. Just last week he signed an executive order for healthy vending in county office buildings. Every year, he planted a vegetable garden with his sons. Last year they planted pumpkins.
“He did not have any health issues that anyone was aware of,” Armacost said. “That makes this even more than a shock to deal with.”
In other cases of heart attack and cardiac arrest, people often have signs, such as breathleness, fatigue or tightness in the chest.
This story will be updated.
This story will be udpated.
amcdaniels@baltsun.com
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