Der Junge hatte einen Herzfehler - der Ride war mal wieder 'nur' Auslöser, aber net Ursache für den Tod, das hatten wir bei Mission:Space leider auch schon...___snip___
Autopsy: Boy who died on Disney coaster had heart defect
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- The 12-year-old boy who died after riding a Walt Disney World roller coaster had a congenital heart defect and there was nothing mechanically wrong with the attraction, it was determined today.
The autopsy of Michael Russell, the son of an Iraq war veteran, was done one day after he stopped breathing while riding Disney-MGM's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. The cause of death was left pending until additional test are conducted, ruled Dr. Sara H. Irrgang, an Orange County associate medical examiner.
"No evidence of injury was found, but congenital heart abnormalities were detected, which will be further evaluated," the office said in a statement.
A study released last year gave support to the notion that heart problems can be triggered or aggravated by roller coasters.
Researchers at the University Hospital of Mannheim in Germany put 55 healthy people on roller coasters and monitored their heart rates during the two-minute experience. Average heart rates rose from 89 beats per minute before the ride to 155 just afterward.
These rates are high enough to trigger rhythm problems, and two participants experienced different types of them. The study's authors recommended that people with heart disease not ride coasters.
Disney World reopened the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Friday after theme park inspectors found no mechanical problems. A state inspector monitored the examination.
"Walt Disney World engineers and ride system experts completed a thorough inspection of the attraction overnight and found it to be operating properly," the company said in a statement.
The boy was limp when the ride ended. The boy's father, Byron Russell, immediately attempted CPR after the minute-long ride but the boy later died at nearby Celebration Hospital.
Russell had told authorities his son had no previous health problems, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Byron Russell is a part of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) based at Fort Campbell, Ky., and served in Iraq, said special forces Command spokesman Maj. Jim Gregory.
"You can't even put words to how devastating this would be," Gregory said.
Disney and other large amusement parks are exempt from state and federal oversight, but Disney has allowed government inspectors to observe inspections after fatalities.
"Our deepest concerns are with the family," said Disney spokesman Jacob DiPietre.
The nation's theme and amusement parks are regulated by a patchwork system of state and private inspectors. Twenty-two states don't regulate rides at all, according to Saferparks, a California-based group that advocates for ride safety.
In Florida, inspectors with the Bureau of Fair Ride Inspection can at any time enter smaller amusement parks and carnivals, inspect a ride and conduct tests. They can't do the same at large parks that have more than 1,000 employees and their own ride inspectors, such as Disney, Universal Orlando, Sea World and Busch Gardens Tampa.
However, those parks agreed in 2001 to provide the bureau with quarterly accident reports and notify the agency of "any serious incidents," spokesman Terence McElroy said. The parks also allow state inspectors to join in a yearly consultations.
Disney has reported nine deaths to the state since 2001. No previous fatalities have occurred on the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster ride since it's debut in 1999. Some 36.6 million people have been on the ride, according to Disney.
Universal has reported two deaths since 2001. Sea World and Busch Gardens reported none.
On the federal level, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for oversight of mobile amusement park rides such as those at fairs, but has no jurisdiction to regulate stationary rides, agency spokeswoman Julie Vallese said Friday.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., has been lobbying for years to have "fixed-site" amusement park rides fall under federal regulations. Markey introduced the National Amusement Park Ride Safety Act to close the loophole in 1999, 2003 and 2005. It has yet to pass.
"Most people don't realize that the number of fatalities per passenger mile on roller coasters is higher than on passenger trains, passenger buses, and passenger planes," Markey said.
The CPSC had oversight of fixed-site rides until 1981, when Congress rewrote the statute that says which products the agency could regulate.
Markey's bill would restore that oversight and provide $500,000 annually to the CPSC, far short of what would be needed to do the job, according to the agency.
"If we were to have that kind of oversight, it would probably mean at least doubling the size of our agency and doubling our budget. It would be an extremely big undertaking," Vallese said.
The CPSC has a staff of about 450 and operates with an annual budget of nearly $68 million, she said.
The agency estimates there were at least 46 fatalities associated with fixed-site rides between 1987 and 2004, the latest numbers available. From 1997 to 2004, the agency estimates there were about 32,600 injuries associated with the rides.
The figures are "based on medical examiner and coroner reports to us of deaths, and our extrapolation of injuries nationwide based on 100 hospitals that report to us," said agency spokesman Scott Wolfson. "It's out best national estimate."
(c) Orlando Sentinel / AP, 30. Juni 2006