David Todd, a 34-year-old father from Newport, died after collapsing on the second day of a family holiday in Kos, Greece, an inquest has heard. The incident occurred on September 7, 2019, at the Hotel Pantheon, shortly after he went inside to watch a rugby match.
Mr Todd, of Tyne Close in Bettws, had been complaining of worsening heart problems in the months before his death, including chest pain, dizziness, kidney pain, and trouble sleeping. He had attended A&E at the Royal Gwent Hospital in July 2019 with chest pain, but tests including an ECG, blood pressure, and oxygen levels returned normal results.
In August 2019, locum GP Dr Christopher Samways saw Mr Todd and diagnosed him with atypical chest pain, noting that his medical records showed no issues with blood pressure, oxygen levels, ECG results, or chest X-ray. Dr Samways said there was 'no evidence of acute ischemic heart or enlarged heart.' However, Mr Todd's father had died from coronary artery disease aged 48, and Dr Samways asked about family history of sudden death but concluded that normal scan results meant Mr Todd was not at higher risk.
Senior coroner Caroline Saunders noted a disparity between the Greek post-mortem, which found recent myocardial ischemia and acute pulmonary oedema, and a later UK post-mortem by Dr Ian Thompson, which found no evidence of ischemia and suggested sudden arrhythmic death syndrome. The coroner favoured Dr Thompson's conclusion, recording the cause of death as sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, describing Mr Todd's issues as 'undetectable.'
Mr Todd's partner, Natalie Price, described him as 'the best person you could meet' and said he 'loved life and was always looking forward to the next thing to do.' She added that he was 'very much missed by his work friends.'
