Is there a specific age range for being part of this campaign?
Normally we concentrate on the 14-35 year old age range but in this instance we also want to hear from anyone who has suffered the loss of a child under 14 years of age due to a cardiac condition and, at the other end of the scale, we want to hear of anyone aged 50 or under who has died from a cardiac condition. This will enable comparisons with other studies which use different age ranges. It will also enable comparisons with other causes of death and the different ways studies report incidence rates.
Why are the UK Government figures wrong?
The Government’s advisors ignored or refused to consider key research papers and reports from CRY. This is shocking. 80% of coroners in the UK refer cases to CRY’s specialist cardiac pathology services after a suspicious young sudden death. CRY supported nearly half of the bereaved families affected by a young sudden cardiac death in the UK in 2014. CRY operates the largest national cardiac screening programme for young people of its kind. Since 1995 it has screened more than 80,000 young people and it now screens more than 20,000 young people a year. CRY is a respected international leader in research into young sudden cardiac death and inherited cardiac conditions.
I don’t have the post-mortem, how do I request another copy?
To request another copy of the coroner’s report, contact the coroner’s office. If they no longer have the record then enquire the name of the pathologist who provided the post-mortem report, or ask the coroner’s officer for advice about where you can obtain a copy.
Isn’t young sudden cardiac death rare? Aren’t you just as likely to be killed by lightning?
Young sudden cardiac death is rare compared to cardiac deaths in the elderly and middle-aged, but it is not rare compared to the other most common causes of death in young people (e.g. road traffic accidents, suicides, accidental poisonings, etc – http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/subnational-health1/leading-causes-of-death/2009/index.html). Many medical professionals and policy advisors still incorrectly think a young sudden cardiac death is as rare as being killed by lightning – which is simply wrong. This thinking is outdated, dangerous if applied to medical decision making and should have no place in modern scientific reports or policy recommendations.