Cal High School player with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

[jasonpeoria911]

I can't remember if this had been posted last week or not but just saw this story on yahoo. California High School basketball coach used a CPR instruction I-Phone App to save 1 of his players that collapsed during practice. Turns out that player was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the same condition as the Bradley baseball player and potential condition keeping TB out. Interesting read.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Coach-uses-iPhone-app-to-help-save-collapsed-pla?urn=highschool-291472

Jason

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

I can't remember if this had been posted last week or not but just saw this story on yahoo. California High School basketball coach used a CPR instruction I-Phone App to save 1 of his players that collapsed during practice. Turns out that player was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the same condition as the Bradley baseball player and potential condition keeping TB out. Interesting read.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Coach-uses-iPhone-app-to-help-save-collapsed-pla?urn=highschool-291472

Jason

It is not clear from the article if the coach knew CPR before downloading the application. If he did not, then that is disturbing. It sounds like he already knew CPR prior to the player going down. The comments following the article are awful.

[Da Coach]

It is not clear from the article if the coach knew CPR before downloading the application. If he did not, then that is disturbing. It sounds like he already knew CPR prior to the player going down. The comments following the article are awful.

There are tens of thousands of coaches and assistants at high schools, and grade schools across the country. Many of them at small, rural schools like this one. And though a lot of them are teachers, many of them are just unpaid volunteers. Often these coaches stay a year or two while their kid is playing then leave.
This case was at a tiny private high school (LaVerne Lutheran HS-153 student). Most states do not require teachers or coaches to be certified in CPR. Maybe it would seem like a good idea, but it would be a logisitical impossibility. If you required it for basketball, then it should also be required for football, track, hockey, cross country, and every other school sport, including golf and fishing and all girls sports, too. Many of these schools have trouble finding enough coaches for their school sports, requiring certification in CPR would guarantee they would have far less. And who should pay for all this training?
And of course, the opportunistic legal system plays a part in this too. If an individual is certified in CPR and fails to save a person's life, it is much more likely they could be sued and held responsible for not saving them. So in that case, it may be better for those individuals not to be certified so nobody can claim they should have had the expertise to save a dying person.

[tornado]

it is likewise legally advantageous to NOT have cardiac defibrillators -- life-saving devices --
in facilities like schools, banquet halls, theaters, etc...

We're talking equipment like the kind that saved Nick Knapp's life at Woodruff and that would have saved Hank Gathers, Pete Maravich, Lenny Bias, and Reggie Lewis had there been one readily available...

Sure -- they might save lives, but if you have one and someone dies, you are more inclined to be sued than if you don't have one and someone dies!

[KillerB]

I saw a tv report on this. I am pretty certain the coach did not know cpr before downloading the app (or it had been a while since he had any training). He said he downloaded it the night before and and studied the proceedures. He said he would not have been able to perform cpr had he not done that.. and had the app walking him through the steps when the player collapsed.

Doctors have told Xavier he will not be allowed to play basketball again. He plans on returning to his team to help as an assistant coach this season. He was planning on going to college with and eye to med school before this incident.. and says that's what he wants to do now more than ever.