Anybody who's looked after elderly, like those over 85 can attest to similar things, even though that's not what happened here I assume.
Phone call at 2:30 pm.
"Hey, I need to go to the ER"
"What's wrong uncle?"
"I got a headache and am light headed. Kind of dizzy"
"What have you eaten today?"
"I had coffee this morning"
"Did you drink any water"
"No"
My wife says one of the symptoms of getting older is you lose hunger pains. So they forget to eat or don't feel like eating because they feel fine - until they don't. THen they assume it's something else.