A 20-YEAR-OLD whose father found him dead in bed, died of natural causes, an inquest found.

The body of Michael Anderson, of Arbour Way, Malton, was discovered late on Sunday, January 11, by his father Kevin who went to tell his son a favourite television programme was about to start.

At an inquest into the death on Monday at Scarborough County Court, coroner Michael Oakley read out a statement from Kevin Anderson in which he said that on the day of Michael’s death, he got back from work at about 6.30pm, and at 11.30pm he shouted to let Michael know that American football was on the television.

Michael did not respond, and when Mr Anderson went upstairs and tried to shake his son awake he realised he was dead.

A post mortem examination was carried out by Dr Musa at Scarborough Hospital and the case was then referred to Dr Leslie Davidson, a consultant pathologist specialising in cardiac pathology at St James’s Hospital, Leeds.

Dr Davidson said Michael’s heart was enlarged, weighing around twice the weight of the average heart. He said this could be a result of high blood pressure, but said: “We don’t really know why the heart was enlarged.”

He added: “My concern is that in this case there is quite a strong family history of collapse or unexpected death, which could affect other members of the family.”

The inquest heard that the bereaved family had been distressed by the length of time the the post mortem investigations had taken, and at the inquest Mr Anderson asked Dr Davidson why it had taken so long to return Michael’s heart for burial.

Mr Anderson said: “Waiting three months as a family, not knowing what was coming, was very difficult.

“It would have been OK if we had known it could take six months at the outset, but first we were told six weeks, then eight weeks, and we wanted the heart back to bury it with the rest of Michael.”

Dr Davidson said he also worked on pathology for lung and skin cancer patients, and he had to prioritise his workload.

He said: “Most of my time is spent with living patients who have some sort of lung cancer and we have got to prioritise the work, because there are not enough pathologists to do everything straight away.

“I realise waiting three months is an awful long time when you are anxious but it is not that we are idle or that we spent a lot of time on the golf course. There are not many cardiac pathologists in the UK and this is not unusual.”

Mr Anderson told the inqest that he had become disillusioned with the NHS after many years believing in it. He said when Michael was 10 he had collapsed at a party and banged his head. He was taken to Malton Hospital and referred to Scarborough Hospital the same day. But the specialist there said he couldn’t understand why Michael had been sent there and didn’t test him for any medical conditions.

Coroner Michael Oakley said: “I have lost relations in similar circumstances, and cardiac pathology was also needed, and we had to wait six months for closure.

“Unfortunately Michael suffered from a rare condition, and we cannot say whether or not it would have been picked up by earlier tests.

“I am going to record a formal verdict that Michael died from natural causes.”