A teenage rugby player who collapsed during a game fell victim to ‘sudden adult death syndrome’, an inquest heard.
Luke Chapman, aged just 15, died of natural causes, Birmingham Coroner’s Court ruled yesterday.
Assistant deputy coroner Elaine Ormond-Walsh said she would write to the Department of Health calling for a national screening programme for the condition, to which young men are particularly susceptible.
Luke, from Meadowcroft, Hagley, Worcestershire, a pupil at Haybridge High School, died during a school game at Baxter College in Kidderminster.
The coroner said: ‘This is a very tragic death of a 15-year-old, very fit young man, who enjoyed playing rugby.
‘On March 20 he had been playing rugby but had not been actually actively playing at the time when he suddenly collapsed.’
She said the boy had gone into cardiac arrest and CPR was started immediately.
An air ambulance then took Luke from the pitch to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, but medical staff were unable to resuscitate him.
