Man Dies After Disney Ride

[snopes]

A 44-year-old man died after riding a roller coaster at Walt Disney World that simulates a runaway train ride through the Himalayas.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

[Mickey is a gyrl]

Can we place bets on whether that guy had a pre-existing condition, known or unknown, yet?

[Dr. Dave]

Originally Posted by Mickey is a gyrl

Can we place bets on whether that guy had a pre-existing condition, known or unknown, yet?

Mickey, I understand your point, but there are two issues to consider:

(Note: I know no details of ths case or of the ride, I am just raising general priciples for discussion.)

1. Maybe he did not, but the ride could still have an idiopathic effect on him. Sudden death in an otherwise healthy or asymptomatc person is often from a (heart) ventricular fibrilllation or from something like a ruptured (brain) aneurysm. (ETA: There are lots of other things, I just picked two that are quick and silent and could somehow have been attributed to the ride as the last straw.) Now, certainly, he could have had an aneurysm undiagnosed and the pressure of the ride tipped it over the edge. Or an underlying cardiac issue that made him prone to a V. fib. But people with no known underlying cause get V. fib as well- for example, children hit on the chest with a ball at just the right momment in the cardiac cycle. Maybe the ride jarred this guy just the right ( or wrong) way.

2. More improtantly, all of that skirts the public health question. So what if he did have an unknown pre-existing condition? Sure, there can be a sign that says do not ride if you have a known cardac, neurologic, or respiratory issue, if you are pregnant, etc. But if people who are completely asymptomatic can have something that puts them at excessive risk on such a ride, what to do? Do we (society or individuals) accept that low level of risk, or do we say that thrill rides of a certain intensity are not appropriate because of this unknown risk? I do not know the answer, or how we would even decide which rides were OK, but the issue is much more complicated than "it turned out the guy had XYZ."

[Mickey is a gyrl]

I'm not saying that it could have been something that otherwise may not have happened if he hadn't been on the ride. But like the 4-year-old boy on Mission: Space, or the 12-year-old boy that died on Rockin' Rollercoaster Starring Aerosmith, they were both pre-existing conditions. The vast majority of guest deaths on rides are due to pre-existing conditions, and I'm making an assumption that this was similar. The question I have is whether it was unknown (like those two boys I mentioned), or did he know and just disregard warnings (like the woman that died on Mission: Space).

[snopes]

A pre-existing heart condition caused the death of a man who was stricken while riding a Walt Disney World roller coaster, the Orange County medical examiner's office said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

[Dr. Dave]

Originally Posted by snopes

A pre-existing heart condition caused the death of a man who was stricken while riding a Walt Disney World roller coaster, the Orange County medical examiner's office said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

I owe Mickey a bag of Hanukah gelt.


Seriously though, this article does not say if he (a) knew about the condition and rode anyway, (b) had any suggestion that he might have a yet to be diagnosed condition, or (c) felt "fine" and had no idea.