A rugby player, named Brodie McCarthy, 18 years old died during a rugby tournament at the David Voye Memorial rugby tournament. He died from a head injury. The New Brunswick coroner’s office is investigating the cause of the death.
Unforeseen ordeal
According to the principal of the school, Seana Evans-Renaud, it was just a normal rugby play and McCarthy called for a substitute for him and walked out of the field. The coach checked him. The boy was coherent and just sat on the side benches and then he just collapse. People in the area provided CPR on the boy. They called an ambulance and immediately brought to Moncton for surgery, caused by bleeding from two areas of the brain but McCarthy never recovered. He was just a few weeks away from graduating from Montague Regional High School.
According to the officials with the Department of Education stated in an email that procedures were followed by the organizers of the tournament and were found to be in compliance with the policies and procedures of Prince Edward Island School Athletic Association and the safety guidelines of the Prince Edward Island K-12 physical education. Furthermore the officials stated that the procedures were reviewed by the department of education, P.E.I’s Public School Branch and the School Athletic Association. It was determined that the procedures were followed following the collision on the field. The tournament was approved by the Prince Edward Island School Athletic association and all the requirements are met which includes preparation of the field, training and certification of officials and coaches. And supervision of staff for the safety of the players which includes first aid and CPR training and being aware of the emergency procedures.
In the past years, a 17 year old high school rugby player from Ottawa has suffered two concussions in one week and sustained another concussion during a rugby game and that resulted to his death two days after.
Ontario passed a law, a safety legislation especially designed to protect amateur players and education for coaches about the dangers injuries on the head. This law is first of kind in the country.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid course and for more information, check out these sources:
https://www.healthline.com/health/head-injury
https://www.healthline.com/health/first-aid/cpr
https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/cardiopulmonary-resuscitation-cpr-treatment