Thank you for adding another voice to this campaign.
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.
What does CRY want to achieve by this campaign?
The Government have said they will review the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommendation not to implement a national screening programme if new evidence is put forward. So if we can prove the UK NSC have drastically underestimated the incidence of young sudden cardiac death, the Government will have the opportunity to review its policy on screening.
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 This thinking is outdated, dangerous if applied to medical decision making and should have no place in modern scientific reports or policy recommendations.
Why do many people think deaths only occur in those taking part in sport?
Many older studies base their figures on the number of young sudden deaths reported by the media. Often these are witnessed events of athletes during training or activity which is why these deaths are linked to sport. However, a significant proportion of young people die in their sleep or at rest. It is well established that media reports only represent a fraction of the number of actual young sudden cardiac deaths.