Autopsy says 12 year old had heart defect

[jjarman]

Just read this on AP wire. Apparently the boy had an undetected congenital heart defect. So very sad. Here is the link.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/jun/30/063001075.html

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Just extremely sad. And scary... who knows how many of our kids could be walking around with undiagnosed congenital heart defects. My prayers are with that poor family

 

[btuftee]

I can't say I'm shocked it was a heart defect... there aren't too many things that will cause an otherwise healthy young person to suddenly die. I wonder if this was undiagnosed? It's a scary thing to contemplate, but think about the millions of people who go on rollercoasters and don't die every year.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

This is from the linked article:

"Miller said Russell told officials that the boy was healthy and that the family didn't know of any underlying medical problems"

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

From the Orlando Sentinal:

Boy who died on Disney coaster had heart defect, autopsy shows

The Associated Press
June 30, 2006, 2:11 PM EDT

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- The 12-year-old boy who died after riding a Walt Disney World roller coaster had a congenital heart defect, a medical examiner determined today.

The autopsy of Michael Russell was done one day after he passed out while riding Disney-MGM's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. The cause of death was left pending until additional test are conducted, ruled Dr. Sara H. Irrgang, an Orange County associate medical examiner.

"No evidence of injury was found but congenital heart abnormalities were detected, which will be further evaluated," the office said in a statement.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...63006,0,6849464.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

 

[EndlessDark16]

I can't even imagine what the family must be going through. It's sad beyond words.

 

[julia & nicks mom]

I have been having the hardest time with the news about this -

my DS almost 3 had to be sedated and the doctor detected an irregular heartbeat - it wasn't severe but we scheduled an EKG just to be sure - his heartbeat was fine but turns out he has an enlarged heart - we are waiting for further testing to determine exactly what is going on and how severe it is

all I can think when I hear this is how lucky we are that he needed to be sedated and that the doctors didn't just blow off the heartbeat -

My DS is a perfectly active normal 2 yo - I am in shock that something could be wrong - so I can completely sympathize with this boy's parents!!

 

[qtwns]

I wonder if it was the first time he had ridden the ride or if he had ridden it before. Was it just poor timing or did the "thrill" of the ride set the whole tragedy in motion?

 

[LoveWDW]

((Hugs)) to Julia&Nicks Mom, you are going through a rough time, I hope all is well with your little one. Thank goodness you are aware of the problem.

And prayers for the bereaved family. It must be a horrible time for them.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

It is terribly sad.

Unfortunately, now the parents will start asking "what if...", which won't help anything.

Our DS is almost 10 now. When he was 7 he had a strep infection, but his hands were shaking like he had Parkinson's. He went to the hospital where they did a CT scan, a spinal tap, an EKG, and an MRI. They found a "blotch" of funny cells in his brain, which had nothing to do with anything, but it kept him in the hospital for 5 days and required an additional MRI later. The pediatrician joked that that's why they don't randomly do MRIs - you might find something you weren't looking for! The shaking turned out to be stress related (new school) and the blotch may or may not go away.

If the "blotch" had been dangerous chances are we never would have known about it. Most parents don't have their children tested up, down, and sideways on the chance that they MIGHT find some rare abnormality.

I hope these parents know there is nothing they could have done and that they are able to make peace with the loss of their son eventually.

EDIT:
Kate -
I hope all is well with your sweet DS! I'll be thinking of you!

 

[KimWDW]

It's so sad. It could really happen to anyone. How many kids have EKG's? I'd say 99% don't. So most parents have no idea if their kid has a heart defect or not. It's horrifying. My heart goes out to the family.

 

[honey11dog]

I actually wore my heart rate monitor on the Rock N Rollar Coaster ride. I was wearing it in the parks to prove to my husband that you can get a good work-out just running between rides and collecting fast passes. I remember glancing at it before getting off the Rock n Rollar Coaster. I was shocked to see that I was way out of zone 4. I work-out pretty regularly and I rarely get into zone 4, unless I am working really hard for awhile. I am sure that I was in Zone 4 on Tower of Terror too. I just didn't check it. So, I am not surprised that someone with a heart defect could have had a cardiac episode.

I feel so sorry for this child's family. My heart and prayers go out to them!

 

[TLHB70]

I wonder if it was the first time he had ridden the ride or if he had ridden it before. Was it just poor timing or did the "thrill" of the ride set the whole tragedy in motion?

I wonder that too. I also wonder if he rode Mission Space.

The pediatrician found that my youngest DD has a heart murmur. We went to the cardiologist, and he performed an EKG. He did say that she had an "innocent" heart murmur, nothing to be concerned about. He even said that on papers that ask for "medical conditions" that I do not even need to mention it because it is that innocent. That discovery was recent. We haven't been to WDW since. We have a trip scheduled for September. My DD has ridden Mission Space and Rock N Rollercoaster. She loved them. DH and I rode Mission Space and HATE it so we told both daughters that they will not ride it again. (With the new, tamer one open for this trip we will probably ride that one, though.) DH LOVES Rock N Rollercoaster!!!!!!! It is his and DDs favorite ride!!!!!!!!! I know that they will want to ride it again on this trip. I guess I just wonder that if the ride was fine for her before, and she did ok then, will she be ok on it this time? I guess the cardiologist would have mentioned avoiding things like that. Both DDs have their annual well exams/physicals in a couple of weeks. I will talk to the pediatrician then about it. I guess I should call the cardiologist's office and verify that she is ok to ride this.
I just wonder if this boy had ridden any other thrill rides before this.

This poor family!!!!!! My heart hurts for them!!!!!!

 

[Bill From PA]

No one would be surprised if a person with an AARP card, myself for instance, keeled over during or after a thrill ride, we expect those with a lot of candles on the B'Day cake to have a less than firm grip on life. What's not often considered is that the 12 and under set harbor a fair percentage of folks who have serious physical flaws that just haven't surfaced yet. The fortunate ones get detected, either by accident or during the investigation of some symptom such as shortness of breath or fainting. The unlucky ones, and their loved ones, receive only one symptom, sudden death. Depending on the nature of the defect, this poor kid might have died the next time he played basketball, ran to catch the school bus or did a flip off the diving board, in which case we'd never know of it. It's the marquee value of WDW that makes this a national story, not the manner of his passing.

Bill From PA

 

[rtphokie]

Since this boy's father is in the Army, I'm assuming the boy has been seen by military doctors in the past. Makes me wonder

• what is the care like?
• do children see pediatric doctors or general practioners?
• do kids see pretty much the same set of doctors throughout their lives or are they seeing a different one just about every time?
• is this something that a pediatrician should have/could have detected?

 

[ptrbryant]

I've never, ever heard of a pediatrician ordering an EKG or echocardiagram for a child who was not symptomatic. It just doesn't happen. It's not a reflection on quality of care.

Another thing, heart issues can be notoriously difficult to detect--which may be why heart disease is known as the "silent killer". I knew a person who was having chest pain and checked himself into a hospital. They ran a battery of tests and told him everything came back fine. He left and actually collapsed outside the hospital, dead. I can't recall now what the exact name of the heart condition was, but it certainly wasn't one normally picked up by the standard tests. Also, my sister has severe cardiomyopathy along with congestive heart failure ---2 years ago, she had a pacemaker put in and is on several meds. Since she had a history of chronic bronchitis, it just wasn't what the doctors had been looking for and had probably been untreated for some time.

I doubt insurance companies would be willing for everyone, especially children, to have every known cardiac test done when no symptoms are present. Believe me, there's a part of me that wishes they would, but it's not going to happen.

Karla B.

 

[ShannonP]

2 years ago I was diagnosed with a murmur, MVR and had serious problems with an irregular heartbeat....I've since had a procedure to correct the heartbeat issue.

I've probably had the murmur forever, and its NEVER been diagnosed before. I can't even begin to tell you how many thrill rides I've been on in my life, including ToT and Rockin....many, many times....not knowing about these issues.

I feel so very sorry for this poor family....this simply was nobody's fault...

 

[Schmeck]

I've had EKGs and other tests done for an abnormal heart rhythm, and until one specialist actually caught the 'glug' happening I was told that I had a normal heart, etc. It's hard to diagnose some heart disorders unless you catch them happening!

My thoughts and prayers are with the family as well.

 

[ParrotBill]

This happens all the time on soccer fields, and I wonder about carnivals and theme parks all over the world. But when it happens on the soccer field, it does not become world news. But when it happens at Disney, all eyes turn and the questions start.

I was somewhat amused by one video clip of the news I saw yesterday, in which the newscaster says "A bad day for Disney"... not "A bad day for that family!" Everyone smells deep pockets and a lawsuit! Yikes.

 

[Squidrific]

Heart defects in children are not very common and are often very hard to detect unless you are looking for something specific. My dd10 has a congential heart condition which causes her heart to race sometimes 3 - 4 times faster than normal and then it will go back to a normal heartbeat. Her heart doctor likens it to a short in a motor. It is the condition that you hear about in athletes that suddenly die while playing their sport. Luckily my daughter's case is extremely mild and will be corrected surgically when she hits puberty and her heart is fully grown. We discovered it however when she had an "attack" while playing in a soccer game. However, if she had the more extreme form chances are that during the game her heart might have seized and not gone back to the normal rhythm.

She is an extremely athletic and very healthy child, but we would have never known if there hadn't been an incident. She had full physicals and there was never a hint of any kind of abnormality and she never even felt her heart race until she had the incident when she was 8. The doctor said that sometimes with kids when these things happen they may feel like "the butterflies" or little tickle but usually are not painful so kids don't even think about them or bring them to their parents attention.

Also, it was only after a full EKG, Dye injected sonogram and 2 months of wearing a recording heart monitor that she was diagnosed fully and we knew the extremity of her condition.