A cell phone alarm is being blamed for triggering a sudden heart attack that led to the death of a teenager in Britain.
Kaisa Ber, 17, collapsed at home two weeks after her teachers took her to the hospital with heart palpitations and irregular breathing, the Daily Mirror reports.
It was later discovered the teenager had Long QT syndrome. LQTS is a condition that causes sudden, uncontrollable and dangerous heart rhythms in response to stress and exercise, according to the National Institutes of Health. Irregular rhythms may also be triggered by surprise or extreme emotions. In Kaisa's case, doctors believe a cell phone alarm ultimately caused her heart attack.
More than half the people who have an untreated, inherited form of LQTS die within 10 years, the NIH said on its Web site. Lifestyle changes and medical treatments can help prevent complications and lengthen life expectancy.
Kaisa's parents are now taking legal action against the school because they were not informed she was taken to the hospital by school officials.
"How could they know our child was ill and not tell the people who were in the best position to care for her," Kaisa's mother, Diane, told the Daily Mirror. "If we knew we could have done something."
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