The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that MU trainers might not have followed protocol in the time before Aaron O’Neal’s death on July 12. According to the University of Missouri Athletic Department’s plan of action staff members are expected to contact emergency services as soon as a the situation is deemed “an emergency situation or is life-threatening.”
According to O’Neal’s autopsy, he was gasping for air and moaning in the locker room. He also stopped communicating. Instead of going to the hospital, trainers took O’Neal across the street to the Tom Taylor Building. During that ride, O’Neal lost consciousness and 911 was soon called.
A lawsuit has been filed by Lonnie O’Neal, Aaron O’Neal’s father, claiming that neglect was the reason for his son’s death. Regardless of care, there are questions concerning whether or not it would have mattered. O’Neal died of brain swelling from viral meningitis and it isn’t certain whether any medical care would have saved the 19-year old.