Years later, as a cardiac surgeon in Arizona, [Edward Diethrich] emerged from the operating room, walked into the cardiac intensive-care unit and looked at the rows of patients hooked up to tubes and monitors. What he saw gave him a jolt: All the patients were women.

Diethrich said that men who complain of the symptoms of heart disease are likely to be given a variety of tests, including a stress test and cardiac catheterization.

Dr. Marianne J. Legato of Columbia University who has also written a book on the subject of women and heart disease, said, "There definitely are doctors who don't take women as seriously as they do men. Women are three times more likely to be told they are hysterical when they come in complaining of chest pain or cardiovascular symptoms than are men when coming in with same symptoms."