She was only 12 years old when her sudden cardiac arrest was captured on a school security camera. Thankfully, she was saved by the quick actions of a few teachers and the school's automatic external defibrillator:
It's good to remember that sudden cardiac arrest is not just limited to the elderly.
-Wes
Addendum: Oh, and I'm sure she had an implantable cardiac defibrillator installed after her event rather than just a more conventional pacemaker as mentioned in the article.
4 comments:
It should be law that all schools have AED's. If you have a fire extinguisher then you need an AED!
Let's hope she has a defibrillator and a good beta blocker routine. And that she will be excused from gym class for the rest of her educational career. My daughter's school had one that was purchased grudgingly after I insisted at an IEP meeting. She had to go to gym class, but was supposed to be excused from participating. For some reason the coach decided that she should at least take the final and had her run up and down the bleachers for ten minutes. When I tore into him about it he and the vice-principal told me "She was perfectly safe. We had the AED available." I couldn't believe it. I only hope those idiots get a chance to watch this video.
Almost 30 years ago, when I started practice, I volunteered frequently to help with sports physicals for local high scools and the university. It was a way to give back to the community in which I grew up. I had picked up a murmur In a young athlete early in my medical training that later proved to be caused by IHSS, so I was very careful to aucultate in a thorough fashion. I tried to do a careful PE. When reports of athletes crumping on the court and the field of play began to appear, I decided I was not smart enough to be doing sports physicals. Being a surgeon, I finally decided it was in the kid's best interest to let the internist and cardiologists take the duty. In truth, I'm not sure that a full cardiac evaluation by a well-equipped cardilogist is enough!
The liability risk was a worry, but I would have had difficulty dealing with the death of an athlete I had cleared for play.
It's great that they now release videos like this, because it's a great wakeup call to the public that yes, events like this happen in real life and that you never know where and when it occurs.
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