Official killed after being hit in chest by shot put at youth meet

It is sad but children have died when hit in the chest by a baseball either pitched or hit. Causes sudden cardiac arrest. If you can find a person hit with a shot in the Czech Republic you can further your well rounded research and look up little leaguers who've died when hit with a ball in the chest. It has happened in other sports as well.

Ronald Dump wrote:

It is sad but children have died when hit in the chest by a baseball either pitched or hit. Causes sudden cardiac arrest. If you can find a person hit with a shot in the Czech Republic you can further your well rounded research and look up little leaguers who've died when hit with a ball in the chest. It has happened in other sports as well.

Soccer too. Very typical to " chest" the ball in soccer and that has killed more than a few.

Ronald Dump wrote:

It is sad but children have died when hit in the chest by a baseball either pitched or hit. Causes sudden cardiac arrest. If you can find a person hit with a shot in the Czech Republic you can further your well rounded research and look up little leaguers who've died when hit with a ball in the chest. It has happened in other sports as well.

Just curious, why can't an AED restore normal rhythm in these cases?

That didn't happen in the US so w g a f ?

There was a similar fatality at a US college meet in the Spring of 2017 at Wheaton College in Illinois. A person was killed by a hammer throw.

not a doctor wrote:

Ronald Dump wrote:

It is sad but children have died when hit in the chest by a baseball either pitched or hit. Causes sudden cardiac arrest. If you can find a person hit with a shot in the Czech Republic you can further your well rounded research and look up little leaguers who've died when hit with a ball in the chest. It has happened in other sports as well.

Just curious, why can't an AED restore normal rhythm in these cases?

Here's what I was told- and this was in the context of AED training when they became mandatory in schools in NY:

When you're hit in the chest (lacrosse ball, soccer ball, etc) if your heart is beating "out" as it's expanding you're dead- no way to save you.

The way they described it was that your heart "bursts".

No matter what, it's so sad. I grew up playing sandlot sports- baseball, football, soccer, basketball- so much room for disaster.

Poor kid. He has to feel terrible.

I have managed 1,000 track meets.......How in the hell does someone get hit with a shot put?

Bob Schul Country wrote:

I have managed 1,000 track meets.......How in the hell does someone get hit with a shot put?

somebody puts the shot and it hits them

You can't get hit with a shot put. "Shot put" is the name of the event. This is like saying that you tripped over a steeple chase.

Defibrillating someone only works when the heart is in V-tach or V fibrillation (some sort of electrical activity). It is designed to essentially stop the heart with a single jolt of electricity. This then allows the normal pacemaking tissue to resume the role of pacing the heart. If someone is already in cardiac arrest the only thing you can do for them is CPR and hope the paramedics arrive with their drug cart.

Has also happened in ping pong to the very unfortunate.

Ronald Dump wrote:

It is sad but children have died when hit in the chest by a baseball either pitched or hit. Causes sudden cardiac arrest. If you can find a person hit with a shot in the Czech Republic you can further your well rounded research and look up little leaguers who've died when hit with a ball in the chest. It has happened in other sports as well.

Called Commotio Cordis

oregon oldtimer wrote:

Defibrillating someone only works when the heart is in V-tach or V fibrillation (some sort of electrical activity). It is designed to essentially stop the heart with a single jolt of electricity. This then allows the normal pacemaking tissue to resume the role of pacing the heart. If someone is already in cardiac arrest the only thing you can do for them is CPR and hope the paramedics arrive with their drug cart.

It really ruined most medical shows when I learned that if you are in asystole (flat lined) that defib is useless (and may even damage the heart). Just about every medical show shows some patient flatlining and the docs shocking them.

AEDs will not administer a shock if someone is in asystole. (Pretty cool!).

As noted, do compressions and wait for the guys with the cardiac drugs to show.

oregon oldtimer wrote:

Defibrillating someone only works when the heart is in V-tach or V fibrillation (some sort of electrical activity). It is designed to essentially stop the heart with a single jolt of electricity. This then allows the normal pacemaking tissue to resume the role of pacing the heart. If someone is already in cardiac arrest the only thing you can do for them is CPR and hope the paramedics arrive with their drug cart.

Yeah, I guess I assumed that the impact threw off the rhythm rather than stopping the heart completely. I'm surprised that a relatively minor trauma could do that.

That is not accurate. The evidence points to commotio cordis producing ventricular fibrillation. The treatment for this is the same as for any cardiac emergency associated with a non-perfusing rhythm: Activate the emergency medical system, then being immediate CPR, and defibrillate as soon as an AED or defibrillator is available. Defibrillation as soon as possible is important because v-fib rapidly (within a few minutes) degenerates to asystole.

S**t happens. A couple of years ago at the TN state high school track championship, there was a collegiate baseball game going on next to the big warmup area for the athletes running. I was standing with my old high school team near the edge of the warmup area outside the stadium when a home-run ball flew right past one of my teammate's heads and hit the ground near us. It was within 5 feet or so I think. Crazy.