Nearly two years after the sudden death of 11-year-old Caleb Kroffat, a coroner’s investigation has determined that it was the result of natural causes.
After an autopsy was unable to identify an anatomical cause of death, a post mortem genetic test was completed by the B.C. Inherited Arrhythmia Program, and found a genetic mutation associated with an increased risk of cardiac arrhythmia. Coroner Courtney Cote concluded that inherited cardiac arrhythmia was the cause of Kroffat’s death.
Kroffat was found unresponsive by a bus driver outside the Island Savings Centre during a Cowichan Valley Capitals hockey game that he was attending with his family. Despite immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation from the bus driver and other members of the public, and further CPR by paramedics, he was pronounced dead less than an hour after arriving at the Cowichan District Hospital.