Blood pressure cuff kills grade 8 student

hoppyfrog

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http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/gun_lake_region/Blood_pressure_cuff_kills_eighth_grader

13 April 09

A 15-year-old Hastings Middle School student died Saturday in what Michigan State Police are investigating as an accidental death.

Two neighborhood friends found eighth-grader Donavin Prough's body at his Dowling home Friday afternoon with a blood-pressure cuff inflated around his neck. Investigators say he tightened it himself. He was home alone. The cuff belongs to Prough's mother, a nursing student.

He was taken to the hospital and put on life support, but proclaimed dead the next day.

It is unknown as to why he put the medical device around his neck.

Prough was just a curious, inquisitive kid, his father said.

Police questioned Prough's friends as to whether the death was related to the choking game - where people choke themselves to get a high feeling. The teens had never heard of Prough doing that, they told investigators.

more at link
 
So sad and senseless. I can't think of any reason other than the "choking game" for a young man to do this.
 
I used to play with my mom's blood pressure cuff. I never put it around my neck, though. What a sad story. Sounds like he was just fooling around, and the result was tragic.
 
Very sad, my prayers for his family and friends.
 
A very sad incident, my prayers go out to his family. May he RIP.

I have never heard of anyone doing this with a cuff, it is new to me. It had to be a "choking game." So very sad for his family and friends.

Always
Gozgals
 
OMG, what an awful tragedy!! Sound like this boy was just messing around, being a boy. I guess he panicked and couldn't get it off. How scary. Prayers to the family.
 
How awesome that his parents are donating his organs. That must have been a difficult decision to make at this time.
 
I hate to think of this but could it have been a suicide? I have never tried but can a cuff be released if it is inflated since it is only held on by velcro? I would think all you have to do to release it is pull it off? Anyone know?
 
Another possibility is experimenting with Autoerotic Asphyxiation (intentionally cutting off oxygen to the brain for sexual stimulation). Autoerotic Asphyxiation is a paraphilia. Sometimes what appears to be a suicide or murder is actually a case of someone passing out during autoerotic asphyxiation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoerotic_asphyxiation

Russell

I'm sure this is what it was!
 
I agree, South, autoerotic asphixiation - especially given his age.


Eve

Hi sweet Eve. :blowkiss:

I read once that 50-100 people die a year like this - almost always males and, the vast majority, adolescent or young adult males. So it's rare, but not unheard of, and I plan to have DH touch on the phenomenon with my sons when the time is right. My deepest prayers for this family.
 
What a terrible tragedy...I would never have thought of a blood pressure monitor as being a dangerous object to have in the home. I feel for this young boy and his family.
 
This is a terrible, stupid tragedy. Yes a cuff can be removed when inflated. Also very easy to deflate. I'm sure he panicked and couldn't remember how to get it off. This is the first I have ever heard of and I am a nurse!
 
This is a terrible, stupid tragedy. Yes a cuff can be removed when inflated. Also very easy to deflate. I'm sure he panicked and couldn't remember how to get it off. This is the first I have ever heard of and I am a nurse!

Or he could have passed out before he could get it off.
 
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/...h-carolina-boy-dies-playing-choking-game.html
An 11 year old child ten minutes from us died last week from the choking game. It has really hit the community hard around here, just across the state line. His father put an amazing post on fb during his time of grief to warn others of this danger. You try to protect your kids from everything, but hardly anyone realized this was something young kids did in my community. I've seen this way back when I was a new nurse, and it still hasn't gone away.
 

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