Many people who are victims of myocardial infarction (MI) do not call for help or differ the call, endangering themselves. These unadapted behaviors have been largely examinated, but the methods and results of the studies appear insufficient to understand what is being played intimately in patients who suffer a heart attack.

To understand (1) real-life experience of subjects during a heart attack, (2) the choices operated by victims of myocardial infarction during the crisis, (3) the mental phenomena that influence their decision to call for emergency services.

We conducted a qualitative research associating theorical frames of medical, human and sociological sciences. In an epistemology of subjectivity, we mobilized the point of view of patients in first person and conducted elicitation interviews with the aim of helping victims of MI to mentally reconstitute the crisis scene and describe it precisely.

(1) Semiology of MI in a patient point of view differs from medical semiology, leading to misinterpretation of symptoms during pre-hospital phase of MI by its victims. (2) We describe how identical tensions and regulations influence patients’ decision to call a health professional.

Our research opens doors to improving patient education targeting subjective phenomena that determine choices of subjects during a health crisis.