I knew of two colleagues that died immediately after instant heart attacks with absolutely no warning. One in his chair at work and the other in his chair having breakfast. Can happen to anyone at any time. Which is precisely why it is a requirement to cover this event during simulator training.
We can all laugh at the OP story. In both cases described, the PM's momentarily thought it was the real thing. We cannot dismiss this. But thinking about it dispassionately from a legal point of view. Because of the seriousness of this type of medical event we are discussing (i.e. a sudden simulated incapacitation which may or may not resemble the real thing depending on your acting capability
) - maybe there is an argument for a call by the simulated victim of "Simulated Incapacitation" as he conks out.
There are many different non-normals practiced during simulator training; all of which pose no danger to the health of the participants if they stuff up. It would indeed be unfortunate if a sudden practice dying event turned out to be the million to one chance of being the real thing. After all, stress in simulators is not uncommon. An interesting legal conundrum for the experts?