[Talking_Mouse]

Prayers for his family.

[sageb1]

And no one used Heimlich?

[metmom]

ping

[cubreporter]

Oh God...how tragic. Prayers for his soul and prayers for his heartbroken family. I just can't imagine.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Give me a break. Isn't there anyone on that campus that has a Medic First Aid certification?

Prayers for the family.

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

The teacher didn't cause the student to choke because cellular telephones aren't allowed on campus. At the same time, the kid should have been more forceful and just yelled, "Mrs. Jones, I'm calling 9-1-1 because that guy is choking over there. Please give him the Heimlich Maneuver while I call."

~ Blue Jays ~

[rfreedom4u]

I'm pretty sure no teacher in their right mind would slap a phone out of a student's hand.

[lightman]

Rules RULE!

Damn.

[coloradan]

Several Martinsville High School students say teachers stopped their calls to 911 while a fellow student was choking, because cell phones aren't allowed on campus.

Witnesses tell police the victim was rushing to finish his lunch before leaving the cafeteria, because you can't bring food outside. That's when they say he started choking, went into cardiac arrest, and died at the hospital.

Good thing there are some reasonable, modest, common-sense, do-it-for-the-children regulations in place at this institution. People's lives depend on it!!

[metmom]

What's wrong with some people that they think rules are more important than common sense? The kids who were intimidated and stopped by the teachers will live with the guilt of not having acted for the rest of their Lives. They'll always be wondering, "What if I hadn't listened to the teacher? He might be alive today."

Shouldn't teachers be required to be trained in that kind of basic first aid? In a situation like that, there's no time to go for help.

[TXnMA]

Nobody knew how to do the Heimlich maneuver? And nobody attempted CPR?

I thought Heimlich and CPR posters were required to be posted in all facilities that provide food.

This is beyond belief!

Yes, I'm a Red Cross/USAF-trained first aid instructor -- and I know that CPR is basically worth little until Heimlich is used to clear the airway...

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

Somewhere along the way the old "Zero Tolerance" excuse is going to be trotted out...

~ Blue Jays ~

[xJones]

This was a terrible accident. Apparently nobody knew about or was able to do the Heimlich maneuver.

[goodnesswins]

How horrible......when I was that age at a Church meeting I ALMOST witnessed a fellow at across from me at our dinner table choke to death on ice cream.....one of the adults, after we started making a commotion (and realized he wasn't just laughing...he was choking) came and got him, and threw him against a wall.....it saved his life. I'm surprised it appears no one thought to grab this student and do something.

[Socratic]

...students say teachers stopped their calls to 911.... Multiple 911 calls went out from Martinsville High School.

Let's get beyond emotionalism and seek the truth of the matter.

[Smokin' Joe]

He says one of his friends tried to call 911 with his cell phone, but just as he reached an operator, he says a teacher closed his phone saying cell phones aren't allowed on campus.

At that point, they would have needed two ambulances--one for the teacher.

Prayers up for the family and friends.

[drjimmy]

It is highly possible that choking on a hamburger is not what caused this student to die, and that the Heimlich would not have helped. While witnesses may believe that to be the case from the circumstances, the autopsy will have to determine exactly what happened.

Exactly three weeks ago today, my 14-year old son was talking with three friends before the start of their seventh period high school class. One of them turned around to walk away and suddenly dropped right to the floor. At first they thought he was playing a joke, but then they realized he was having some kind of seizure. A teacher started CPR right away when she found no pulse, and paramedics were there within minutes. Despite putting every possible drug in him and shocking him four times, his heart just wouldn't start.

Everyone at the school has been just devastated by this. We've known the boy since kindergarten and I used to coach him in t-ball with my son. We learned just yesterday that they have determined the cause of death to be myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle usually caused by a virus. Upon looking up info about it, I was stunned to learn that it is the cause of up to 20% of sudden deaths among young adults.

It is certainly possible that something like this, an aneurysm, or an embolism could have caused the boy in this case to suffer cardiac arrest.

[kenth]

ping

[Enchante]

For choking cases, you have 3-5 minutes to save the person. 911 calls are too late anyway, unless the EMTs are located right across the street. The real question is how on earth no one among the teachers and students knew how to do the Heimlich.... heck, plenty of people have saved a life without any training, just by trying to imitate what they'd seen in the movies. How on earth did everyone just twiddle their thumbs until the kid was dead?

[Porterville]

Teachers are suppose to be trained in basic CPR-D