The family of an Ole Miss football player, who died after an offseason workout, has served the University with a Notice of Claim, which is a statutory prerequisite to filing a lawsuit against a public entity in Mississippi.
Bennie Abram, a walk-on junior defensive back, was participating in the first day of spring practice on Feb. 19, 2010, when he collapsed. Allegedly, athletic trainers treated him on the field before he was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford, Miss. He was reportedly conscious when he arrived at the hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and died six hours later.
An autopsy reportedly showed that the 20-year-old’s death was due to complications from sickle cell trait (SCT) with exertion as well as a contributing factor of cardiomegaly, an inflammation of the heart.
The Houston-based Lanier Law Firm, which is representing the plaintiff, noted in a statement that SCT “appears in almost 10 percent of the African-American population, and less commonly in all races. Believed to be the leading killer of Division I football players, the condition has been linked to at least nine deaths of college athletes since 2000.”
Lead attorney Gene Egdorf added that “student-athletes shouldn’t be dying because of sickle cell. The only reason that it turns fatal is because someone along the way made mistakes or intentionally disregarded the well-established guidelines for training, monitoring, and treating these student-athletes.”
The university issued the following statement from Athletic Director Pete Boone:
“The tragic loss of Bennie was immeasurable to not only the Abram family, but also the Ole Miss family. The well-being of our student-athletes has and always will be our highest priority. We reviewed all the actions taken by our medical professionals, athletic trainers and coaches and found that medical protocol and emergency action plans complied with the Best Practices at that time for such cases. We are surprised by this letter from the attorneys and are confident that the facts confirm that we followed the proper procedures.”
Sports lawyer Christopher Fusco of Callahan & Fusco, LLC recently opined that “the letter from The Lanier Law Firm goes far beyond what information Mississippi law requires a Notice of Claim to contain. It is obviously designed to paint Ole Miss and its coaching staff in a negative light through the media.
“However, if some of the allegations are true, Ole Miss could be legally liable for Abram’s death. Abram’s family must show that Ole Miss departed from the standard of care that it was required to follow for athletes with SCT.
“On the other hand, just because Abram died during a football workout does not make Ole Miss or anyone else responsible. Assuming Abram was advised of his diagnosis (and there is no indication he wasn’t), he chose to play football, an inherently intense sport. If the coaching staff followed NCAA guidelines and the applicable standard of care, it satisfied its duty to Abram.”
