Doctors thought this healthy 25-year-old's heart palpitations were just anxiety - the next morning he was dead

A man was found dead by his devastated parents the day after doctors put his heart palpitations down to anxiety.

Keen Manchester City fan Ben Peters was a healthy 25-year-old who had his whole life ahead of him. He had just taken his final exams to become a qualified solicitor, was running a local football team, and was getting ready to buy his first home.

On Friday, November 11 2022, Ben suffered chest pains and was seriously short of breath. After spending the early hours in A&E, he left after being told his symptoms could be anxiety or gastroenteritis as all of his tests came back clear.

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Ben was discharged with an anxiety disorder from Manchester Royal Infirmary, according to his family. The next morning, November 12, Ben was discovered dead by his heartbroken father, having had a catastrophic haemorrhage within his heart.

Now, the family is on a mission to raise awareness of the condition and raise money for a charity supporting families which lose young loved ones to heart problems.

“It was a big shock, it just came out of nowhere,” Ben’s brother, Michael, told the Manchester Evening News. “It was a Friday night, around midnight, Ben started having a lot of chest pain and was breathing in and out quickly, having serious shortness of breath.

“I rang my mum and dad and Ben went to A&E at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. He had quite a few tests and none of them showed anything was wrong.

“Doctors just put his symptoms down to anxiety disorder or gastroenteritis because he was incredibly tense and having heart palpitations.”

The 25-year-old, who was raised in Cheadle but was living in Manchester at the time, returned to his mum and dad’s home for