Boy, 15, died during the school football days after the wrong diagnosis

A teenage boy who collapsed and died during a football match at school was wrongly diagnosed with asthma a few days earlier, heard an investigation.

Jake Lawler15, after collapsing in Ashton at Mersey School in Sale, died, Traffordon November 5 last year.

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The court heard a month before his death, he went to the Wythenshawe hospital to complain about shortness of breath while playing football.

The research It was told that Jake of Sales collapsed on the field on October 13, 2024.

Alison Mutch, senior coroner for Manchester South, has now written in a prevention of future death report.

She warned how medical professionals wrongly diagnosed the teenager with effort induced asthma.

According to the report, an “abnormal ECG” and an “exercise induced syncope episode” were not recognized or followed.

The medical history of Jake’s father was also “not correctly assessed”.

The coroner concluded The abnormal ECG in combination with the teenage collapse “should have led him to be referred for an intramural pediatric assessment and further testing”.

And when Jake was fired, his ECG results were wrongly registered as recurring “normal”.

Jake’s general practitioner prescribed medication for the incorrectly diagnosed asthma, but it didn’t seem to have an effect on the young person.

A test for asthma was also performed five days after Jake collapsed.

But the nurse referred him back to a doctor because they didn’t think he was suffering from the condition.

The 15-year-old died tragically from biventricular Arithmogenic cardiomyopathy just a month later.

The coroner wrote in her report: “It is likely that he would not have died on the day he had taken the right actions.

“Jake’s collapse was wrongly attributed to his exercise -induced asthma. “

In her report, four points of attention were emphasized to help prevent future deaths.

She stated that the ECG results from Jake were “important warning signals” that should not have been missed, either because of training or insufficient medical equipment.

Another “Red Flag event” was built “not clear national guidance” on the route to take after a syncope -induced syncope.

The third point spotlighted covered asthma treatment prescribed by the general practitioner, who did not increase the symptoms of Jake and the asthma assessment.

“Jake was assessed by his general practice with the help of the national asthma scoring system,” wrote the coroner.

“However, the scoring system does not seem to score for asthma caused by effort.

“In the case of Jake, the lectures and answers pointed to a well -controlled asthma.

“This was awaiting the fact that his history indicated that he continued to struggle with his breathing during exercise and meant that he did not cause care.

“This was exacerbated by the normal peak current values ​​that were taken at rest, which gave a false reassuring picture.”

The coroner added that there was a “lack of curiosity” and a “lack of appreciation” about how limiting the assessment was.

“In my opinion, action must be taken to prevent future deaths, and I believe that you and/or your organization have the power to take such an action,” she continued.

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and GP surgery have until July 4 later this year to respond to the report.

Jake’s school said at the time of his tragic death: “Our school community was absolutely destroyed by the loss of one of our beloved and precious students, Jake Lawler, who recently died in tragic circumstances.

“As a school we keep his family and friends in our minds and we continue to support our students and employees during this incredibly difficult time.

“We also want to take this opportunity to share a link to Jake’s memorial fund, set up by his family to increase the awareness of a very worthy thing – cry (heart risk in the young people).

“The money Will go to increase the consciousness of young sudden heart death and supporting the affected families, to support their screening program and financing research and pathology. “