ITV Regional News has been told a “concerning” number of patients have died from heart conditions after their test results were misinterpreted by medical professionals.
Clarissa Nicholls, a student at the University of Cambridge, collapsed and died while hiking with a friend in France last year.
She had an ECG to check her heart but the test results were not looked at by a specialist.
This meant a rare heart condition was not picked up and Clarissa did not realise that exercising was actually putting her life at risk.
The Chief Executive of Cardiac Risk in the Young, Dr Steven Cox, said: “One of the greatest tragedies is when a young person presents with symptoms, they’ve gone for medical care, they’ve had an ECG and then they’ve been reassured and told that everything is fine and they’ve gone home, and then there’s been a subsequent sudden cardiac death or cardiac arrest.”
He explained ECGs should be looked at by specialists but that often does not happen.
