Lawsuit: Defibrillator would have saved high school soccer player's life

Lawsuit: Defibrillator would have saved high school soccer player's life

The family of a Northern Kentucky teenager who died in June after suffering a cardiac episode during soccer training has filed a lawsuit, alleging that a defibrillator should have been available and would have saved his life.

Matt Mangine II collapsed during a June 16 training session for the boys’ varsity soccer team at St. Henry District High School in Erlanger. The lawsuit says an automatic external defibrillator (AED) was required to be available at the field.

According to the lawsuit, the school’s policy required an athletic trainer to be there with an AED machine. It says a trainer was not there at the time.

In addition, the coach was supposed to know where AEDs were and have access to them, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says the coach didn’t use any of the three AEDs on the school’s premises and may not have even searched for them.

When the practice took place June 16, the team was coming off a long layoff and the practice ran longer than the scheduled time of one hour.

Matt, who was 16, collapsed on the field at about 7:12 p.m. “after suffering a cardiac event while finishing up practice,” the lawsuit says.

Emergency responders were called about five minutes after Matt collapsed, the lawsuit says, arrived at 7:21 p.m., but didn’t use an AED until at least 12 minutes after he collapsed.

Research shows that if an AED is applied to someone within the first three minutes of a cardiac episode, the survival rate is nearly 90 percent, the lawsuit says.

An autopsy and toxicology showed that Matt “was a perfectly healthy, drug- and alcohol-free teen,” the lawsuit says.

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In a statement, an attorney for Matt’s family said coaches and trainers overseeing student athletes need to be prepared to handle cardiac events. Attorney Kevin Murphy said there are numerous guidelines and policies regarding AEDs that apply to coaches and trainers.

The adults overseeing the Matt’s practice, Murphy said, “completely failed to follow the guidelines and policies that applied to them, and…their failure to do so cost Matt his life.”

Among those named in the lawsuit are St. Henry District High School and the Diocese of Covington.

School officials and a diocese spokeswoman did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Boone County Circuit Court, is seeking damages on claims including wrongful death, negligence, and the loss of Matt’s affection and companionship.