Battalion Chief Suffers a Heart Attack and Eventually Dies While Participating in a Fitness Program – California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Sexson, Kristen
• 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 October 15, 1997, a 54-year-old male Battalion Chief (BC) experienced chest pain while exercising during his work shift. An ambulance crew transported the BC to the emergency department where he was admitted to the hospital for an acute myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack. He underwent emergency coronary angiography, angioplasty with stent placement, followed by the intravenous (IV) infusion of a thrombolytic agent. Although the BC tolerated this first hospitalization and procedure well, over the next 5 months he underwent multiple diagnostic and therapeutic cardiac procedures with numerous complications. He ultimately died on April 29, 1998. The death certificate, completed by the State Medical Examiner, listed "Cardiogenic Shock due to Enterobacter sepsis due to Multi-organ Failure due to Ischemic Cardiomyopathy" as the immediate cause of death. No autopsy was performed. Other agencies have proposed a three-pronged strategy for reducing the risk of on-duty heart attacks and cardiac arrests among fire fighters. This strategy consists of: 1) minimizing physical stress on fire fighters
  
  2) screening to identify and subsequently rehabilitate high risk individuals
  
  and 3) encouraging increased individual physical capacity. Issues relevant to this fire department include: The Fire Department should modify the content and frequency of their fire fighters annual medical evaluations to match that recommended by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1582 (Medical Requirements for Fire Fighters)
  
  The Fire Department physician, not personal or consulting physician, should have the responsibility of determining medical clearance for a fire fighter's unrestricted return to work status
  
  Reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease and improve cardiovascular capacity by phasing in a mandatory wellness/fitness program for fire fighters
  
  Perform an autopsy on all on-duty fire fighter fatalities
  
  Leave doors to personal quarters unlocked in case of emergency.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Firefighters Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Cardiovascular-system-disorders Fire-fighting Firemen Heart Medical-screening OSHA Region 9 Physical-fitness
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Medical ; Non-Cardiac: Miscellaneous Medical COD
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACEF200015
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20001035
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2004-104808
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: 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 F2000-15, 2001 Apr ; :1-10
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1997/10/15
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0fea17c52832495dd5aced466d042804ed8ecd8bcedd08a6d7629fb02d0b9a18356381dace841ea8295e74d5563edc92c059caaf126e11e988db083f327bf2d4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/163914/cdc_163914_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.09 MB ]