Mystery over woman's death

Feb 24 2006 By Anna Jeys, Birmingham Mail

A BIRMINGHAM woman collapsed and died at home after contracting the rare condition Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, an inquest heard.

Deborah Wall was at home in Worcester Drive, Sutton Coldfield, when tragedy struck on November 24.

The Birmingham Coroner, Aidan Cotter, was told that the 47-year-old had suffered from a number of health problems since 1989 and had been diagnosed with suspected ovarian cysts, meningitis and asthma after several trips to the doctor.

Deborah had also baffled doctors by collapsing twice before without any cause.

Doctors were at a loss to explain the reason for her collapse and cited cause of death as Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.

The inquest heard that Deborah had collapsed after complaining of feeling sick and faint.

Just minutes earlier she had been on the phone to her father, Ian Parry, and had seemed fine.

SADS is diagnosed when death occurs unexpectedly, spontaneously or even dramatically and kills around 120 people in the UK every year.

It is believed that it may be caused by a ventricular arrhythmia - a disturbance in the heart's rhythm - even though there might not be a problem with the person's heart.

The coroner said: "An irregular heartbeat could have been an explanation. With Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, what it means is 'I don't know'.

"I record that Deborah died from natural causes, but we do not know the specifics of those natural causes."