Lieutenant Suffers Sudden Cardiac Death at Home following 24-hr Shift – Illinois

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baldwin, Tommy N. ; Hales, Thomas R.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Description:
  Death in the Line of Duty…a Summary of a NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation
  
  On July 1, 2010, a 37-year-old career Lieutenant (LT) died at his home after serving a 24-hr shift the preceding day. The LT had responded to two fire calls and two emergency medical calls during his duty shift. The LT was found unresponsive at his home by his 6-year old son and his son's baby sitter. The baby sitter called 911 and upon arrival, Emergency Medical System (EMS) personnel found the LT to be cyanotic with significant blood pooling (lividity). The coroner was notified and the LT was pronounced dead at the scene. The autopsy, completed by a forensic pathologist, identified "hypertrophic cardiomyopathy" as the immediate cause of death. NIOSH investigators agree with this assessment and concluded that the LT probably died from a fatal heart arrhythmia associated with undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The following recommendations would not have prevented the LT's death. Nonetheless, NIOSH offers them to reduce the risk of heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest among fire fighters at this, and other fire departments (FD) across the country. 1. Consider providing symptom limiting and diagnostic imaging exercise stress tests for fire fighters based on their risk for a coronary heart disease event. 2. Provide a comprehensive wellness program to complement the FD's physical fitness program.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Emergency Responders Firefighters Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Cardiovascular-disease Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Emergency-responders Fire-fighters Medical-screening OSHA Region 5 Physical-fitness
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Cardiovascular: Arrhythmia ; Cardiovascular: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF201023
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037875
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2011-102643
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE F2010-23, 2010 Nov ; :1-11
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services: Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2010/07/01
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e4c571737ed7d6ced897ac8daaa3e65b684be157c20f0b56520d89ff934d07c529cda651c6b1cb2393c5d7082eb4db0e6c6471ae745f25f3116a3d5b383d3180
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163539/cdc_163539_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 467.99 KB ]