Finding into death of Xavier Hart

4y · Male·hypoxic brain injury complicating out of hospital cardiac arrest (unknown cause)

Xavier Hart, a 4-year-old boy with obstructive sleep apnoea due to adenotonsillar hypertrophy, was found unresponsive and apnoeic at home on 21 December 2011. Despite immediate CPR and intensive resuscitation, he suffered hypoxic brain injury and died. The precipitating cause of his out-of-hospital cardiac arrest remained unknown despite thorough investigation. Clinical lessons include: the importance of timely sleep studies in children with suspected obstructive sleep apnoea to assess disease severity, expedited surgical management when airway obstruction is significant, and consideration of inherited cardiac conduction disorders in unexplained paediatric cardiac arrests. His mother, who had been subjected to police investigation and made distressed false admissions, was exonerated with evidence confirming natural causes.