Boy dies after riding Disney World roller coaster - 6/29/06

[Darkbeer]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busin...home-headlines

The Russell family told Orange County sheriff's deputies that Michael was in good health.

"There are no previous medical problems they know of," said Orange County sheriff's Detective Mark Hussey, who was assigned to investigate the death. "He said his son had a yearly physical, the most recent just a few months ago."

The Russells boarded Rock 'n' Roller Coaster after 11 a.m., with Michael sitting next to his mother and brother and his father behind them, said Deputy Barbara Miller, a sheriff's spokeswoman.

"The dad noticed the little boy went limp as the ride finished," Miller said.

Deputies say Byron Russell immediately began CPR on his son, and a ride employee called 911 at 11:20:36 a.m., summoning paramedics from the Reedy Creek Fire Rescue.

Paramedics stationed at the park arrived about three minutes after the 911 call first came in and took over, according to Bo Jones, Deputy Chief of Reedy Creek Fire Rescue. Though Disney has portable heart defibrillator units stationed throughout its parks, there was not one available to use on Michael until the paramedics arrived, according to an audiotape of the 911 call. (Paramedics earlier indicated it took about six minutes for them to arrive.)

The child's heart was first shocked 7 minutes and 3 seconds after the 911 call, according to Jones.

The boy was transported to Celebration Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Portable defibrillators, called automatic external defibrillators, determine if a heart is quivering without pumping blood and will automatically shock it to try to restore a normal beating pattern. The procedure is not always successful.

The availability of portable defibrillators at Walt Disney World became an issue earlier this month when a wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the parents of a child who died last year after riding Mission: Space at Epcot.

[RobotMirror]

Hmm... and he had his yearly physical. There's nothing really conclusive yet, until the cause of death is determined, but this is another small piece of evidence against the "pre-existing medical syndrome" theory.

[Asterix]

Is it really called "Celebration Hospital"?? I understand why it's called that, but jeez, couldn't they name it something else??

[Loomis]

It seems, as with the other cases, that this WAS a pre-existing condition.

http://www.wftv.com/news/9447963/detail.html

The 12-year-old boy who died after riding a Walt Disney World roller coaster had a congenital heart defect and there was nothing mechanically wrong with the attraction, it was determined Friday.

As seems to be the case in many of these accidents. It is one of those things: it is IMPOSSIBLE to predict how the body will respond to these things, and if you are unaware of a defect, you are going in as completely unaware as Disney. Mind you, I think Disney is still obligated to make amends given the 'egg-shell skull' principle of torts. (Or something like that - it has been a couple of years since I studied torts).

Tragic news indeed, especially coming so soon after the Mission: Space tragedy. How CAN you predict the unknown? Really though - what is the solution? Have a full medical check of every person before they enter the park, or close down any ride more extreme than the Mad Hatter Tea Cups?

[RobotMirror]

Tragic news indeed, especially coming so soon after the Mission: Space tragedy. How CAN you predict the unknown? Really though - what is the solution? Have a full medical check of every person before they enter the park, or close down any ride more extreme than the Mad Hatter Tea Cups?

True indeed. In this case, the boy had a full medical checkup as part of his annual physical, (although how thorough that was remains to be seen), so it's unclear if even a full medical check would have helped.