Why did so many people die of "a broken heart" or get suddenly ill and die after a shock? What was this phenomenon?

by [deleted]
giraffe_taxi

Your question might be more appropriate for /r/health than for /r/askhistorians. Broken heart syndrome is apparently a real, current & ongoing thing, aka:

takotsubo cardiomyopathy apical ballooning syndrome or stress cardiomyopathy