I can't believe that the staff did not have something to gauge the heat with. That is a basic. The CJ reports this morning that the young man complained of shortness of breath, and was told to contine. These will be addressed I'm sure further down the road.

I know at X that the heat index is measured constantly during practice.

 

Who at X takes care noting the heat index. I would bet it is a certified athletic trainer. School systems need to address the fact that it is tough for a coach to maitain the heat index and coach. If there is a trainer on sight that can keep of this, it would be a lot safer.

As for the young man complaining, I bet you can go on any football field in the state in July and August and have kids short of breath and tired. You will probably also see coaches pushing and motivating these kids to push through. That at some point is a part of the game.

What happened to this young man is tragic and noone will disagree. There was a heart condition no one knew about, so how can you hold the coach responsible?

I don't know that you can hold the coach accountable for this players death, but he certainly, IMO, should receive some punishment for not following the guidelines set forth by the KHSAA to monitor heat index using an on site psychrometer. Just calling Coach Edge 35 miles away in Owensboro is not sufficeint.

I don't know that you can hold the coach accountable for this players death, but he certainly, IMO, should receive some punishment for not following the guidelines set forth by the KHSAA to monitor heat index using an on site psychrometer. Just calling Coach Edge 35 miles away in Owensboro is not sufficeint.

 

Does anyone know if he called before the practice or after the boy had collapsed?

Bottom line, the coaching staff did not conform to state regulations. There is no way around it, they were negligent in their judgement.

 

Okie1, if you are coach and you have a kid complain of being short of breath and any other symptoms related to heat illness, I would suggest you follow protocol to take care of this athlete or your head will be in a noose also. I am from the old school also and that don't cut it any more when you are dealing w/an athletes life. Times have changed and so must the coaches to protect our children.

 

It would be nice for the state to also mandate that every school in KY have a medical professional(ATC) on hand at least during 2 a days. Better yet, full time to cover all athletic events. I know here in NKY every school(except one) has an ATC at every home game no matter what the sport. It would be nice for our NKY teams to travel out of the area knowing there will be an ATC on duty to take care of any medical problems.

Does anyone know if he called before the practice or after the boy had collapsed?

From what i've heard it was a little bit of both.

I truly do not know enough about the situation to make any comment. What I have a big problem with is some schools (Boyle being one) has one night a year that they do sports physicals. A bunch of teachers and nurses get togther and perform physicals on lots of kids at one time. Even though I think this is a wonderful thing to offer, I can't help believe that they are doing the child an disservice. If you do that many physicals on that many kids at one time, I don't see how they can make a good judgement on whether that child is fit to perform a sport or not. Our family has never done this. We have always felt that it was best for the doctor who has seen our children on a regular basis to do the physical and base his opinion on whether they can perform a sport on everything he knows about our child. Now I understand that doing a mass screening for physicals is cheaper for the parents but let's face it, when it comes to your child's health, money shouldn't be a reason for allowing a doctor, other than you own, to do your child's physical.

 

It's an awesome responsiblilty to put your child's health in the hands of a coach or a manager. Heat problems aside, you can't expect any school personnel to know your child better than you and let's face it, as LTW said, some conditions are there without anyone's knowledge and it may take years for them to show themselves.

 

I feel just horrible for this child's parents but sometimes we just have to understand a situation and stop trying to make someone else responsible.

 

Should a child that can not afford this type of physical not be allowed to play. This is a serious issue. I would guess that less than 50% of the players that go through these "drive through" physicals will pay or could afford to pay the 150-200 physical that would be done in a physicians office. Additionally, please do not get a false sense of security from a physical in the physicians office as most defects would have not been picked up without an stress EKG or Echocardiogram which are not parts of a normal physical.

Who at X takes care noting the heat index. I would bet it is a certified athletic trainer. School systems need to address the fact that it is tough for a coach to maitain the heat index and coach. If there is a trainer on sight that can keep of this, it would be a lot safer.

As for the young man complaining, I bet you can go on any football field in the state in July and August and have kids short of breath and tired. You will probably also see coaches pushing and motivating these kids to push through. That at some point is a part of the game.

What happened to this young man is tragic and noone will disagree. There was a heart condition no one knew about, so how can you hold the coach responsible?

 

Excellent post. This is why you absolutely have to follow the KHSAA guidlines which are very clear. Monitoring the heat index is not difficult. I have used parents to monitor.

Should a child that can not afford this type of physical not be allowed to play. This is a serious issue. I would guess that less than 50% of the players that go through these "drive through" physicals will pay or could afford to pay the 150-200 physical that would be done in a physicians office. Additionally, please do not get a false sense of security from a physical in the physicians office as most defects would have not been picked up without an stress EKG or Echocardiogram which are not parts of a normal physical.

 

That is why this is such a difficult issue. In this case, obviously, the coaches are somewhat at fault for not following the KHSAA guidelines. However, are they truly responsible for the undiagnosed heart condition?

That is why this is such a difficult issue. In this case, obviously, the coaches are somewhat at fault for not following the KHSAA guidelines. However, are they truly responsible for the undiagnosed heart condition?

 

Again, I don't think this really has anything to do w/the undiagnosed heart condition. The fact is they should not have been out in full gear and the athlete was showing signs of heat illness and it was ignored, they call this neglegence in a court of law.

 

I guess I missed this in all the articles regarding the case but what was the coroners findings as to why the athlete died, heart problem or heat illness?

From the Courier-Journal

 

HENDERSON, Ky. -- Football coaches and school officials were named in a lawsuit filed in last summer's death of a Western Kentucky high school player.

 

Ryan Owens, 16, collapsed and died July 19 after practice at Henderson County High School. A state medical examiner found that Owens suffered from a heart defect that the heat made worse.

Randy and Marla Owens contended in the lawsuit filed this week that the defendants "ordered Ryan Owens to continue athletic activity wearing helmet and gear after reporting difficulty breathing."

 

In September, school board officials said they had cleared the football coaching staff of any wrongdoing in Owens' death

How large was this child. Did he have any thing that would have led the coaching staff to believe that there was potential for these problems. Children who are obviously at risk should be put through more demanding physicals including an EKG. Our coach has mentioned to me having to start practice late because of the heat index. We must find ways of safeguarding our children.

How large was this child. Did he have any thing that would have led the coaching staff to believe that there was potential for these problems. Children who are obviously at risk should be put through more demanding physicals including an EKG. Our coach has mentioned to me having to start practice late because of the heat index. We must find ways of safeguarding our children.

 

As a medical professional, you legally can not pick and choose who is at risk and who is not. Obviously the larger, overweight athlete is at higher risk but I know of well oiled machines that have broke down and died. A very good friend of mine died a few yrs ago, no medical problems at all, very healthy lifestyle. After the autopsy, he had the heart of an 80 y.o. man. You never know when a heart problem is going to occur.

 

Someone earlier eluded to cost of these expensive test, how much is a life worth? I would hope all these kids have some kind of insurance that would pay for such tests and only out of pocket money would be the co-pay.

Do schools not request or provide for physical exams before the start of the season? X does, but maybe this isn't mandatory. Anybody know?

^ I believe it is required by the KHSAA for every athlete to have a physical before the can participate. In Ryan's case it would matter because a standard physical would not have revealed his heart condition.

Can someone tell me how dehydrated do you have to be for your kidneys begin to shut down? Can this happen is 30-40 mins?