Teen ballplayer Andrew Cohn died of commotio cordis after a collision with another player during a game.

Medical authorities announced last week that teenage ballplayer Andrew Cohn died of commotio cordis, a fatal heart rhythm triggered by a blow to the chest.

The accident occurred May 15 in Jacksonville, Florida. Cohn, 15, was playing first base and preparing to catch a fly ball, when the batter, heading for first, collided with him. Cohn fell to the ground, tried to get up, and collapsed. An assistant coach performed CPR, and Cohn was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

His father, Harold Cohn, told firstcoastnews.com last week that the Georgia Medical Examiner had established the cause of death as sudden cardiac dysrhythmia due to commotion cordis due to blunt impact to the chest.

According to reports in jacksonville.com, Cohn, a high school freshman, played baseball for his high school and for the community’s Camden County River Dogs team that he’d help found. A versatile athlete, he played several field positions, and pitched.

Commotio cordis can occur in a perfectly healthy person who has been struck in the chest. It  is the second leading cause of sudden cardiac death in school athletes.

In the wake of Cohn’s death, pediatric electrophysiologist Randall Bryant, MD, explained that if a blow to the chest occurs at a certain vulnerable point in the heartbeat cycle, it can cause the heart to stop pumping.

Once commotio cordis occurs, the only way to resuscitate the victim is a shock to the heart from an defibrillator (such as an automated external defibrillator) delivered in the critical few minutes after the heart stops beating. The tournament director for the game in which Cohn was playing when he died told firstcoastnews.com that many little leagues cannot afford to place a defibrillator at each playfield.

There are options, though. Please consider these AED funding options on cardiacscience.com.

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