New complaint in Mangine lawsuit alleges "blatant and serious violation" of law - WKRC TV Cincinnati
ERLANGER, Ky. (WKRC) – Before the evening of June 16, 2020 and a call to 9-1-1, Matthew Mangine Jr.’s parents say he was a healthy, vibrant 16-year-old.
New details released in court filings today say that there were failures on multiple levels and some of the people who could have saved his life didn’t take the proper steps to do so.
The Mangine family originally filed the lawsuit last November.
It names the defendants as St. Henry District High School, the Diocese of Covington and St. Elizabeth Medical Center.
The high school is a member of the Covington diocese and the athletic trainer is employed by St. Elizabeth.
The complaint states: "For many years, St. Henry and the Diocese have been operating their sports program, in conjunction with St. Elizabeth, in blatant and serious violation of the law, KHSAA policies and the applicable standard of care."
The complaint alleges that St. Henry violated state laws and KHSAA policies when it came to Emergency Action Plans and AEDs or Defibrillators.
An Emergency Action Plan – or EAP – details procedures in the event of an emergency.
Kentucky law mandates that high schools not only have venue-specific sports EAPs but also that schools practice them.
We spoke with Kentucky state representative Joni Jenkins about venue-specific sport EAPs last fall.
"In an emergency, you don’t have time to look at the plan, you don’t have time to stop and think," Jenkins told Local 12 Investigates last year. "You need to react very quickly."
She created the law following the death of Max Gilpin, a Kentucky football player who collapsed in 2008.
Now, her law is at the center of the lawsuit involving Mangine.
The complaint says:
“For well over a decade, the standard of care mandates that schools should have an Emergency Action Plan ”
The complaint alleges that a draft of an EAP was created by the St. Henry athletic trainer and sent to the athletic director on June 7, 2020.
That’s nine days before Matthew collapsed.
A venue-specific EAP is supposed to be distributed, reviewed and discussed with all coaches. If not, it's a violation of state law.
The complaint goes on to say that the EAP was not specific to the venue of the practice field.
The EAP said there were three AEDs on St. Henry’s premises, when there were actually five – four in the school and one on the athletic trainer.
The soccer coach, the athletic trainer and the then-athletic director all testified to knowing the signs of cardiac arrest and knew when an AED should be used.
None retrieved or applied the AED.
The complaint states: "None will take ownership of their actions (or lack thereof) -- instead, they are all pointing the fingers at each other."
We have reached out to all three defendants listed in the lawsuit and when we get a response we will update this story.
Here is some of our previous coverage regarding the Mangine lawsuit, Emergency Action Plans and defibrillators:
source: https://local12.com/news/local/new-complaint-in-mangine-lawsuit-alleges-blatant-and-serious-violation-of-law
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