A 16-year-old who died in youth custody had been recently diagnosed with a heart condition, a coroner’s court heard today.
Eder Duarte, also known as Eder Duarte Medina, was found unresponsive in his cell at Feltham Young Offenders Institute on April 20, and died in hospital hours later.
This morning, coroner Melanie Lee opened his inquest at West London Coroners Court.
She said a post mortem had begun, but the results would not be known for several months as both toxicology and other medical tests had to be undertaken.
Among these would be tests to establish if Eder had died from his underlying heart condition, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.
Eder had had been diagnosed with this at West Middlesex University Hospital in December after complaining of heart palpitations, dizziness and chest pain.
However, she said it appeared no review or follow-up had happened since.
Ms Lee said she would be asking for statements from several interested parties, including Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust, which runs West Middlesex University Hospital, and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, which provides healthcare to Feltham inmates.
Eder had been on remand there awaiting sentencing for stabbing another teenager in Lavender Street, Brighton, last year. The hearing had been delayed pending an appeal against his conviction.
Ms Lee also gave her condolences to Eder’s parents, David and Lorena, and brother Mauricio, who attended the hearing.
