Another death at WDW

[retroeric]

Get ready for more blown out of proportion national news coverage about how Disney World is "unsafe".

Now on front page of Yahoo. See what I mean?

 

[kiawahman]

Are there normally this many deaths durning the summer season at WDW? With the millions of people that visit each year it is bound to happen one way or another. Still, very sad though.

 

[swimmom]

My condolences go out to the girl's family.

I hate media! It isn't Disney's fault that the girl died. It was her decision to "ride the waves" at TL. And in any case she was spotted and the lifegaurds did what they were trained to do. As for the other people that have died or have been seriously injured at Disney, it was also their decision to choose to ride the rides. This is just a case of wrong place wrong time. This incident could have happened at any water park in the US, but just because it happened in Disney it gets magnifyed more than it should.

 

[awalte7]

Just a thought but I remember whenI was in high school there was a big news story about girls dying from going in tanning beds during the summer. Because they would leave the heat ouside, to the possible air conditioned tanning salon, to the scorching tanning bed, back to the air conditioned, back out in the heat and then what did them in was a cold shower. I'm guessing the body went into shock or took a stroke after so many temp changes.
Maybe the same thing happened here. Florida heat to cold water rides, back in the heat, back in the water. Some people's bodies have less tolerance than others.
Just a thought. And I don't see any way disney could possibly be blamed for this one.

 

[frcouk83]

First my condolences to the family<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

<o></o>

I don’t think that Disney is being blamed but it is very sad. Any time anything happens that the news media can pull in a big name they will. I remember when there was a cast member was at his home and was flashing people and the Headline said "Disney Cast Member caught flashing neighbors". <o></o>

 

[Glasgow]

Very sad story - I feel so bad for the parents and family

 

[peter11435]

Examiner: Girl Who Died At Disney Suffered No Trauma

POSTED: 2:01 pm EDT August 5, 2005
UPDATED: 3:01 pm EDT August 5, 2005

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Preliminary tests on a 12-year-old girl who died after collapsing at a wave pool in a Walt Disney World water park show the girl did not suffer any trauma, a medical examiner told Local 6 News.




The girl was in the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon at about 6 p.m. when lifeguards noticed her lying on a ledge, out of the water, the department said in a release.



The cause of death is still under investigation and more tests are being performed on Jerra Kirby.

Kirby was in the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon at about 6 p.m. Thursday when lifeguards noticed her lying on a ledge, out of the water, Orange County sheriff's officials said. The lifeguards asked if she was OK, and she said she was fine and wanted to be left alone, but then passed out when she stood up, officials said.

Lifeguards performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took her to Celebration Hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later. Relatives from Newport News, Va., who were with her said she had no known medical problems, the sheriff's office said.

Disney spokesman Bill Warren confirmed the sheriff's report of the girl's death, but he wouldn't release any more details while the investigation was under way. He said the park was operating normally Friday because "there was nothing mechanical wrong."

Disney officials notified the state's Fair Ride Bureau about the girl's death but had requested no assistance, said Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Florida's large theme parks are generally exempt from state oversight but can ask for help.

"We've asked them to keep us informed," McElroy said.




The parking lot outside the water park was full Friday. Brian Stockton, who was visiting from Cassville, Mo., with his family including daughters aged 9 and 2, said he didn't think twice about coming to the park even after hearing news of the girl's death.

"I think it was very sad," said Stockton's 9-year-old daughter, Paige.

Concilia Chitati, who was visiting from Britain, called the death "worrying" but not enough to prevent her from enjoying the wave pool as well. "So far, our trip has been very nice," Chitati said.

It is the third time in two months a child has died or become critically ill at the resort.

Three other people have died this year at Disney World, out of the millions who visit the park each year. Two of the victims were adults in poor health, while one - a 4-year-old Pennsylvania boy who died while riding Epcot's "Mission: Space" in June - remains under investigation.

In addition, a 16-year-old British girl suffered cardiac arrest last month after exiting "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" ride at the Disney-MGM Studios. She was still in critical condition Friday, but her family has blocked release of further details of her illness.

Theme park consultant Randy King, a former safety director at amusement park operator Six Flags, said he wasn't aware of safety problems with wave pools. "There's absolutely no telling what was wrong with her," he said.

But to calm any public jitters about the resort's safety, Disney would be best served by bringing in an unbiased expert or a consumer advocate group to vouch for their investigations, said Aaron Kwittken, CEO of the New York-based public relations firm Euro RSCG Magnet.

"I think that what they're doing right now is they're reacting by incident," he said. "They're at the point right now where they have to be more proactive. That's what shareholders and consumers expect of them."

Further prrof that this had nothing to do with Disney.

 

[tigsmom]

Another update:

Girl's death at Disney not caused by trauma

By Anthony Colarossi and Jerry W. Jackson
Sentinel Staff Writers

August 5, 2005, 3:08 PM EDT

Jerra Kirby, the 12-year-old girl who collapsed while visiting Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Thursday and died, did not suffer a physical injury before her death, according to an autopsy conducted this morning.

The autopsy "revealed no signs of trauma," said Steve Hanson, chief investigator of the District 9 Medical Examiner's Office, covering Orange and Osceola counties.

"The cause of death is pending additional testing," Hanson said. "There was nothing that stood out as being the cause of death, anatomically. She didn't die from physical injury. That's what trauma is."

It could now take four to six weeks or more to conduct the more sophisticated testing required to determine the cause of death, Hanson said.

Jerra died after passing out at the wave pool at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. She was with a group of relatives from Newport News, Va. It was the third time in three months that a young person has suddenly fallen critically ill while visiting Disney.

Florida's chief investigator for rides and attractions said today that Walt Disney World reported the death of a 12-year-old girl to the state because of the "serious nature" of the incident, but the Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection likely will not investigate.

"From all we know at the moment it does not appear to be ride related," said Allan Harrison, chief investigator. The agency inspects water parks along with fairs and small attractions, but Disney and other major parks are exempt by state law, Harrison said.

Disney asked the state to check out the Tower of Terror ride in July when a teen from England collapsed and was hospitalized with bleeding in the brain after riding the simulated elevator ride. The ride was found to be operating normally.

In June, a Pennsylvania boy collapsed on Epcot's Mission: Space ride and later died. Disney's inspections showed no signs of ride malfunction.

Disney and other large water-park operators such as SeaWorld do file incident reports with the state, Harrison said, when water-park incidents are serious enough to warrant a trip to a hospital, just as the parks do for mechanical rides.

The most serious water-park incident reported to the state by Disney since 2001 was in February 2003 when a 31-year-old woman fell on the steps to a pool at Typhoon Lagoon, fractured an ankle and later died of a pulmonary embolism.

Three other Typhoon Lagoon incident reports were filed in recent years, including one 46-year-old male who had a stroke, according to family members. Five incidents were recorded at Blizzard Beach, another Disney water park, between 2001 and June 2005, according to the most recent state records. Most of the cases involved adults with bumps and sprains but one was an 11-year-old boy who reportedly suffered a seizure.

 

[hcswingfield]

Thanks for the post, tigsmom. A lot of information there.

 

[WDWScottieBoy]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

 

[caparamedic]

I hate it when news aritcles say BOY/GIRL dies at Disney... Because that is almost never true. Unless I have my facts mixed up the boy who rode mission: space, died in a hospital, along with the girl on tower of terror, and so did the girl at typhoon, along with the tragic diving accident at the swan and dolfin. None of those four acctualy died on the attraction or even in the park for that matter. that gets me angry when news articles, do that kind of thing, they can say that it happened at disney but the shouldnt say the DIED at disney. That makes it sound as if it was disneys fault (sort of).

dont get me wrong I feel bad for the families however this is ridiculous, what is going on, there have been more deaths in one year than the entire disney world resort has been open. There is something wrong with that...

Technically in these cases you may be right since they are declared dead at the ER after all rescue efforts have been exhausted. However we do have a few DRTs * and they are not transported to the ER, rather by the Orange (or Osceola) County Medical Examiner's Office. Sorry Virginia, but people really do die at Disney.

*dead right there

 

[Woody13]

Sorry, but Florida is a "sunshine" state. It's public information. The family has no authority to keep the ID hidden.

Even when the girl is under 16?

As you can see from tigsmom's post, the name of the young girl has been reported. The family has no right to keep her identity a secret no matter her age. All the names of the victims that have suffered injury or death proximate to the Disney attractions have been reported in the press. The right of the public to know takes precedent over privacy.

 

[Tara Mae]

I believe that name, Jerra Kirby, is a fake.

Because on the local news, on a live interview, they said the name wasn't being released for many reasons.

Two of the reasons:

1: The girl was underage
2: The parents wanted to notify family first

Why would the family have no right to keeping the identity secret? The girl was 12 years old! If it were my daughter, I know I wouldn't want her name plastered all over the internet and news. Disney knows when and when not to let the identity be kept quiet, and I think in cases like this, they have enough sense TO keep it quiet. Which, according to park official, they are.

The public doesn't need names, they just need the event, time of accident, and cause of accident. The name isn't important.

 

[peter11435]

I believe that name, Jerra Kirby, is a fake.

Because on the local news, on a live interview, they said the name wasn't being released for many reasons.

Two of the reasons:

1: The girl was underage
2: The parents wanted to notify family first

Why would the family have no right to keeping the identity secret? The girl was 12 years old! If it were my daughter, I know I wouldn't want her name plastered all over the internet and news. Disney knows when and when not to let the identity be kept quiet, and I think in cases like this, they have enough sense TO keep it quiet. Which, according to park official, they are.

The public doesn't need names, they just need the event, time of accident, and cause of accident. The name isn't important.

As of last night they would not release the name as the girl as she was underage and her parents had not yet been notified. That said Disney has nothing to do with keeping her name secret or giving it out as that responsibility belongs to law enforcement. Also Woody is right that in Florida the girls parents have no right to keep her name private regardless of her age. Her parents could not stop her name from being released if they wanted to. Her name is Jerra Kirby. Like it or not that is the was things are in Florida. Even the name of a minor must be made public.

 

[caparamedic]

The name was published on SunSentinel.com

see:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...ory?coll=sfla-news-sfla&track=mostemailedlink

Here is the article:


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...ory?coll=sfla-news-sfla&track=mostemailedlink
Autopsy on child who collapsed, died in Disney wave pool indicates no trauma



By Anthony Colarossi & Jerry W. Jackson
Orlando Sentinel

August 5, 2005, 3:50 PM EDT

ORLANDO -- Jerra Kirby, the 12-year-old girl who collapsed while visiting Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Thursday and died, did not suffer a physical injury before her death, according to an autopsy conducted this morning.

The autopsy "revealed no signs of trauma," said Steve Hanson, chief investigator of the District 9 Medical Examiner's Office, covering Orange and Osceola counties.

"The cause of death is pending additional testing," Hanson said. "There was nothing that stood out as being the cause of death, anatomically. She didn't die from physical injury. That's what trauma is."

It could now take four to six weeks or more to conduct the more sophisticated testing required to determine the cause of death, Hanson said.

Jerra died after passing out at the wave pool at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. She was with a group of relatives from Newport News, Va. It was the third time in three months that a young person has suddenly fallen critically ill while visiting Disney.

Florida's chief investigator for rides and attractions said today that Walt Disney World reported the death of a 12-year-old girl to the state because of the "serious nature" of the incident, but the Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection likely will not investigate.

"From all we know at the moment it does not appear to be ride related," said Allan Harrison, chief investigator. The agency inspects water parks along with fairs and small attractions, but Disney and other major parks are exempt by state law, Harrison said.

Disney asked the state to check out the Tower of Terror ride in July when a teen from England collapsed and was hospitalized with bleeding in the brain after riding the simulated elevator ride. The ride was found to be operating normally.

In June, a Pennsylvania boy collapsed on Epcot's Mission: Space ride and later died. Disney's inspections showed no signs of ride malfunction.

Disney and other large water-park operators such as SeaWorld do file incident reports with the state, Harrison said, when water-park incidents are serious enough to warrant a trip to a hospital, just as the parks do for mechanical rides.

The most serious water-park incident reported to the state by Disney since 2001 was in February 2003 when a 31-year-old woman fell on the steps to a pool at Typhoon Lagoon, fractured an ankle and later died of a pulmonary embolism.

Three other Typhoon Lagoon incident reports were filed in recent years, including one 46-year-old male who had a stroke, according to family members. Five incidents were recorded at Blizzard Beach, another Disney water park, between 2001 and June 2005, according to the most recent state records. Most of the cases involved adults with bumps and sprains but one was an 11-year-old boy who reportedly suffered a seizure.
Copyright © 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


I'm sure we will see it in print tomorrow.

 

[CTXRover]

This is yet another unfortunate event. However, I would not be surprised if a common link among all the recent deaths and/or critical incidents that have occurred at WDW this past summer are heat stroke related. Especially in a water park, anybody could become severly dehydrated, compromising their blood pressure, cardiac function, renal function and overall electrolyte balance, etc. leading to a critical condition. In a water park, you are in the water all day and don't even realize how dehydrated you can become. With the heat Orlando has been seeing this past summer, I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of these incidents will turn out to be heat related and/or induced/triggered.

Honestly, its a shame at the sheer number of deaths/accidents that have occurred at Disney parks in recent months. However, with the exception of the DCA coaster collision, nothing has been caused by ride malfunction or was ride induced (although the jury is still out on the Mission:Space incident...which I still believe was not ride-induced). However, notice how fast the media jumped on this story? The reporting was so early that there was the talk on message boards and cable news blurbs questioning whether it was the fault of the wavepool when in fact she wasn't even in the wavepool upon her collapse. Sounds to me like the lifeguards and emergency crew did everything they could for the girl at that current time and I applaud their efforts.

 

[Sharon L]

The symptoms of the girl who died after riding the Tower of Terror sounded like she suffered from pulmonary embolism, which is the same thing that NBC news correspondant David Bloom died of. She felt sick and had cramping in her legs just like he did before he died. She probably developed the clots on her flight from England. I just hate that the media really tries hard to blame the deaths on Disney. Their glee in reporting these incidents is nauseating.

 

[Woody13]

I believe that name, Jerra Kirby, is a fake.

Because on the local news, on a live interview, they said the name wasn't being released for many reasons.

Two of the reasons:

1: The girl was underage
2: The parents wanted to notify family first

Why would the family have no right to keeping the identity secret? The girl was 12 years old! If it were my daughter, I know I wouldn't want her name plastered all over the internet and news. Disney knows when and when not to let the identity be kept quiet, and I think in cases like this, they have enough sense TO keep it quiet. Which, according to park official, they are.

The public doesn't need names, they just need the event, time of accident, and cause of accident. The name isn't important.

The release of victim names to the press is handled by law enforcement officials (city, county (parish if in Louisiana), state or federal). The common accepted rule is that the name of a victim is not released until next of kin has been notified by law enforcement officials. After the next of kin notification is made, the press is given the name.

The fact that she was a juvenile has no bearing. If she had been 82 years of age, they would still withhold the name until the next of kin notification. Obviously, no one wants to learn about the death of a loved one via the press. Also, law enforcement officials need to assess the impact of the death notification on the immediate family to curb possible suicide attempts or other domestic violence.

Do we need to know her name? Yes we do. After all, we know the name of 4 year old Agnes Bamuwamye. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom...of the press."

 

[MrNonacho]

The Orlando Fox station just stated that there have been four deaths at Disney this summer, three of which are being investigated. That's just flat out wrong isn't it? Earlier in the same broadcast, a reporter stated "Three deaths in three months," which is wrong, too.

This is the first time I've ever watched this station's news. It is the most unprofessional piece of ________ I've ever seen.

Edit: I just rewatched it and caught something else. They also stated that "Millions of customers" visit the parks each day without incident. Does this station even THINK about what they are saying?

 

[Iakona]

The Orlando Fox station just stated that there have been four deaths at Disney this summer, three of which are being investigated. That's just flat out wrong isn't it? Earlier in the same broadcast, a reporter stated "Three deaths in three months," which is wrong, too.

This is the first time I've ever watched this station's news. It is the most unprofessional piece of ________ I've ever seen.

Edit: I just rewatched it and caught something else. They also stated that "Millions of customers" visit the parks each day without incident. Does this station even THINK about what they are saying?

There was MS and I thought a death earlier in the year on POTC. I do not remember hearing of a fourth.