A SOLDIER may have been the latest victim of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome after dying at his Dublin home, the Dublin City Coroner said yesterday.
Mr Seamus Dunne (34), of Fairways, Donabate, gave a gasp at 6 a.m. on December 3rd, his wife, Louise, said.
The previous evening he had consumed a moderate level of alcohol and had a meal with his brother.
Mrs Dunne told the Dublin Coroner's court yesterday that the deceased man had undergone a strict army medical check up. He had been on a lot of duty and may have been further tired by the arrival of their newest baby.
Dr Derval Royston, a pathologist, who carried out an autopsy in the Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, said that while "the mechanism of death had been determined, it was most unusual and it was the first occasion she had attended such a death".
Dr Brian Farrell, the Dublin City Coroner, said it was regrettable for the family that the cause of death could not be determined exactly. The deceased was a healthy member of the defence forces and had died rapidly as a result of the inhalation of food matter and had developed pulmonary oedema.
The coroner said "It may be that his death falls into the category of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. It is rare but this type of death fits into this classical pattern and maybe in the future we will be able to determine it more clearly."