A senior cardiologist informed me later that the insertion of the balloon pump was not necessary. Balloon pumps can cause serious complications and my blood pressure and heart rate could have been rectified by medication. My big error was not insisting on a second opinion from a staff cardiologist. After all, I've been telling readers for years to get a second opinion. As a patient you're not thinking clearly when faced with the pain of heart attack.
Doctors also have a reputation for being difficult patients.
I didn't want to be one. One also assumes you're in good hands at a major teaching hospital, that you're not the first patient with a coronary attack. And you assume the staff is well-trained in dealing with acute cardiac problems. That's a question attending cardiologists kept wondering throughout my hospital stay. They all thought that since I was a doctor, and had specifically asked for tPA, that he would have thought it prudent to seek another cardiologist's opinion.