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Heart disease apparently killed teen at baseball practice
DATELINE: ELKVILLE, Ill.
BODY:
A high school baseball player's death this week was apparently caused by a
heart condition, a coroner announced Wednesday.
Perry County Coroner Paul Searby said preliminary findings of an autopsy
conducted Tuesday revealed that Scott Rosenberger suffered from a type of heart
condition called cardiomyopathy. Searby said he was waiting for toxicological
and microscopic tests conducted during the autopsy.
The 17-year-old senior had just finished running sprints Monday with other
members of the Elverado High School baseball team and was starting to
participate in drills when he collapsed. He was pronounced dead at a nearby
hospital that evening.
Before the results of the autopsy were released, Elverado Principal Vicky
Walker said Rosenberger did not suffer from a heart condition and the Vergennes
teen had passed his state-required physical two weeks before he died.
According to Frederick Mueller, chairman of the exercise and sports science
department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about 15 to 20
high school athletes die nationwide every year in sudden, initially unexplained
deaths on the field in all sports.
Most of the time, Mueller said, the fatal collapses are heart-related. A
genetic form of cardiomyopathy is a leading cause of sudden death in athletes
and young people, researchers say.
Elkville is located just south of Du Quoin, about 75 miles southeast of St.
Louis.
DATELINE: ELKVILLE, Ill.
BODY:
A high school baseball player's death this week was apparently caused by a
heart condition, a coroner announced Wednesday.
Perry County Coroner Paul Searby said preliminary findings of an autopsy
conducted Tuesday revealed that Scott Rosenberger suffered from a type of heart
condition called cardiomyopathy. Searby said he was waiting for toxicological
and microscopic tests conducted during the autopsy.
The 17-year-old senior had just finished running sprints Monday with other
members of the Elverado High School baseball team and was starting to
participate in drills when he collapsed. He was pronounced dead at a nearby
hospital that evening.
Before the results of the autopsy were released, Elverado Principal Vicky
Walker said Rosenberger did not suffer from a heart condition and the Vergennes
teen had passed his state-required physical two weeks before he died.
According to Frederick Mueller, chairman of the exercise and sports science
department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about 15 to 20
high school athletes die nationwide every year in sudden, initially unexplained
deaths on the field in all sports.
Most of the time, Mueller said, the fatal collapses are heart-related. A
genetic form of cardiomyopathy is a leading cause of sudden death in athletes
and young people, researchers say.
Elkville is located just south of Du Quoin, about 75 miles southeast of St.
Louis.