A man collapsed and drowned in his bath after suffering from a rare heart issue, an inquest heard.
A neighbour of Andy Osbourne Milnes, 48, from Skelmersdale, called 999 on December 5, 2021, after seeing water coming from his house in Tilcroft. Andy was last seen on December 3, reports LancsLive.
Police forced their way into the house and found the living room flooded with water. Firefighters also attended the scene and found Andy dead in the bath, fully-clothed, with the tap running.
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An inquest at Preston Coroner's Court on Thursday (April 28) heard detectives launched an investigation to determine what had happened to Andy, who lived alone, and to find out whether or not a third party was involved in his death. In what was described during the inquest as a 'very unusual and very tragic set of circumstances' it was revealed that Andy had an unknown rare heart condition which had caused him to collapse.
The inquest heard that Andy, who was born in Ormskirk, had been washing his hands in the bath because the tap on his sink wasn't working. A Home Office post mortem was carried out because there were concerns that serious injuries he had suffered in a car crash five months earlier could have been responsible for his death.
Pathologist Dr Alison Armour gave evidence at the inquest and revealed that it was the unknown heart condition, right ventricular dysplasia, which had caused Andy to collapse, fall into the bath and drown. She concluded that the injuries Andy sustained in the collision played no part in his death.
Dr Armour said: "He had been to hospital in the June and an ECG was carried out and there was an abnormality on the ECG but his condition wasn't picked up. To pick it up you would have to have an echocardiogram which is an ultrasound of the heart.
"It is my view that whilst in the bathroom he had a cardiac arrhythmia, fell into the bath and he drowned as a result. He did sustain some quite serious injuries in the road traffic collision including a fractured skull, contusions to the brain and rib fractures however the bruising to the brain had almost completely healed, the skull fracture had healed and the rib fractures almost healed as well as the pubic bone fracture."
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, also known as cardiomyopathy is a rare familial disorder that can cause ventricular tachycardia and sudden cardiac death in young, apparently healthy individuals. Symptoms include dizziness, fainting after exercise and palpitations.
Senior Coroner Dr James Adeley described Andy's death as a 'very unusual and tragic set of circumstances'. Returning a narrative conclusion he said to Andy's mum: "Although he had been involved in a significant road traffic collision five months earlier none of that is relevant to what has actually caused his death which is entirely due to his heart condition.
"He had a very rare condition affecting his heart and in a very few of those very rare conditions it can be passed down from generation to generation. I will send you a copy of Dr Armour's report because I understand Andy has a brother."
At this point Andy's mum told the coroner she had already mentioned it to Andy's brother, who has children, and had urged him to get tested. The coroner replied: "It's a very rare condition and the genetic cases are even rarer still but I wouldn't want you to lose another son because of this. He definitely needs to get tested."
