Answers sought after Gregori High student dies after run in PE class

It likely will be more than a month before an official cause of death is determined for the 16-year-old Gregori student who collapsed during physical education class, but a local cardiology nurse practitioner is on a campaign to prevent it from happening again.

Andy Vazquez, a sophomore, was pronounced dead at a Modesto hospital Monday after he collapsed at the school’s gym following a two-mile run Monday afternoon.

“Another one of our kids has died that potentially could have been diverted with a defibrillator. ... I don’t know if it would have saved his life, but it might have,” said Brian Haverdink, a cardiology nurse practitioner for Sutter Gould Medical Center.

Defibrillators act as a reset button for hearts that are out of rhythm due to ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. If a defibrillator is administered on a person suffering from either condition within one minute, it can increase their chance of survival by 95 percent, Haverdink says. The percentage decreases as time passes.

“Most of the time when someone collapses, their heart is in ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation,” he said.

An autopsy was performed on Vazquez on Tuesday but the medical examiner must review his medical records and wait for toxicology results, which take four to six weeks, before determining a cause of death, said Stanislaus County sheriff’s Detective Zeb Poust.

His father, Alberto Vazquez, said the teen was born with a heart defect. He had surgery three years ago for aortic stenosis, which causes the heart’s aortic valve to narrow.

“His heart was working twice as hard as it should have been,” Vazquez said. “The muscle, the heart, it grew three times as big.”

He questioned the school’s response to his son’s emergency; whether he was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation by school staff members before paramedics arrived; what lifesaving measures were taken; and if he was pushed too hard to begin with.

American Medical Response paramedics were dispatched to Gregori at 1:26 p.m. and arrived four minutes later, said spokesman Jason Sorrick. They left the scene at 1:53 p.m. and arrived at Kaiser Modesto Medical Center at 1:56 p.m.

“Depending on the symptoms of the patient, it’s not uncommon for us to be on scene anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes or longer to stabilize the patient,” Storrick said.

Andy was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m., Poust said.

Haverdink said automated external defibrillators are required in schools in 19 states, but not California. A bill in the state Senate would require certain buildings with capacities of 200 people or greater, built after Jan. 1, to have such a defibrillator on the premises.

Haverdink, a father of two teens at Enochs High School, said he started conversations with the district last year about getting automated external defibrillators in Modesto City Schools but ran into a lot of “red tape.”

Haverdink said he will attend Monday’s board meeting to again bring up the importance of having defibrillators installed.

Modesto City Schools spokeswoman Becky Fortuna said she could not go into details about Andy Vazquez’s death, citing confidentiality laws. She wouldn’t say what knowledge the school had of his medical conditions or if he was participating in physical activity recommended by his doctor.

She said administrators will investigate what led to the boy’s death and the details will be released to his family before being made public.

Children with heart disease generally are encouraged to exercise to avoid developing other health conditions, such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes, but they have limits, said pediatric cardiologist Kavin Desai, medical director and board member of Camp Taylor, a Modesto-based camp for children with heart disease.

“We definitely know that exercise is good, but it has to be smart exercise,” Desai said. “One of the standard things we tell patients (and families of pediatric patients) is that if you have heart palpitations, chest pain, dizziness, let someone know.

“Every patient of mine is going to be in school and involved in PE or sports to some degree,” he said. “On occasion, I will have to have a discussion with a school. A PE teacher’s role is to make sure kids get exercise; we just need to make sure they know these aren’t the average kids they can push harder.”

Family and fellow students were at Andy Vazquez’s Salida home on Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil. The memorial on the front lawn of the one-story house was marked by candles, stuffed animals and tears.

Alberto Vazquez, in a soft voice at the vigil, said he wanted answers.

“I don’t want what happened to him to happen to any other kid,” he said. “I just want to know what happened. If it’s somebody’s responsibility, it needs to be fixed.”

This story was originally published May 5, 2015 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Answers sought after Gregori High student dies after run in PE class."