Hello and thank you for using HCM. I carefully read your question and I totally understand your concern. I will try to explain you something and give you my opinion. As you explain, you have been told that your father needs a pacemaker. If it is so, this means that his heart has a rhythm problem. This rhythm problem is called heart block. Normally the heart beats are generated from the electrical system of the heart. The electrical impulse passes throw the heart and makes the heart to contract and work normally. There are pathology s of this electrical system, like heart block. This means that the heart fails to generate the normal electrical impulse, or the impulse is blocked somewhere and doesn t pass normally throw the heart.This means that the heart makes a pause electrically and this alter her normal mechanical function, her normal contraction. The person having this pathology might lose senses because of this heart pause. The fist way to diagnose this pathology is through the electrocardiogram. It might show this rhythm problem called heart block. The second way is through the patient symptom. As i previously told, the person might experience syncope, loosing sens, dizziness, feeling tired. To verify a rhythm problem sometimes is recommended a holter rhythm for 24 h. So, we can understand if it is a problem through electrocardiogram, holter monitoring or patient symptoms, making this together. If a serious heart bloc is diagnosed, its treatment is heart pacemaker. This is a kind of heart safe battery, that start to function when the electrical heart system doesn t or makes this kind of block . It is putted through a minimal surgery in the upper part of the thorax, like a pocket under the skin. So, if the doctors has told you that he needs a pacemaker, they might have diagnosed it through the electrocardiogram. You should not worry, every think goes fine after pacemaker implantation. Hope I was helpful. Best regards.