Clinic aims to prevent sudden deaths

When 16-year-old Taylor Allan suddenly died of an undiagnosed fatal heart defect last April, her family and friends were devastated and confused. It was only after the death of this seemingly healthy young athlete that they learned she had a deadly genetic cardiac abnormality that had gone undetected all her life. Now, there's new help in Kingston for people who have these unusual cardiac diseases. A new clinic is opening at Hotel Dieu Hospital to help prevent deaths such as Allan's from happening by diagnosing potentially fatal genetic heart problems with a highly specialized series of tests. Dr. Chris Simpson, medical director of the joint cardiac program at Hotel Dieu and Kingston General hospitals, said that though these conditions are rare, most cases go undiagnosed or underdiagnosed. "They're much more common than we thought," he said. "So finding them in advance, before people have their sudden death episode, can prevent it." Simpson estimated there are about four or five deaths from genetic heart conditions in Kingston each year. "I think they're all preventable," he said. Canada only has a handful of specialized genetic heart defect clinics, including ones in Halifax, Ottawa and Toronto. "This [Kingston] clinic gives us a chance to get the word out there to people that these diseases do exist," said Simpson. Kingston's Inherited Heart Rhythm Disease Clinic targets patients and their families who need to be tested for genetic heart diseases - Whig Standard