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Tony Sparano Dead at the Age of 56


J-ALL-DAY

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4 minutes ago, footbull3196 said:

Back in 2001, we were coming off an appearance in the NFC Championship Game.  Then in August, right tackle Korey Stringer suffered a heat stroke in practice and died from complications.  Aside from losing a Pro Bowl right tackle, it pretty much ruined the aura of our entire season and we ended up finished 5-11 and firing Dennis Green

So I'm hoping that losing someone within the organization won't affect us the same way this time

It just depends on how a group of people respond to the circumstances. Its hard to say what this 2018 team will be like because of it.

This is sad though. RIP Tony S.

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3 hours ago, TheKillerNacho said:

Sounds like the doctor missed something...

Not necessarily.

3 hours ago, Thomas5737 said:

Yeah probably misread the EKG or it just didn't show anything abnormal. ER doctor sent my wife home and said it was her shoulder and not her heart and gave her pain meds. We were back a half hour later and the EKG showed an abnormality that time and they found a total blockage in her heart. Had she tried to sleep it off instead of insisting there was something really wrong then the same thing probably would have happened to her. Sad stuff.

In an ER settting MD’s only have EKG’s and cardiac enzymes for the most part. If those come back negative, it doesn’t mean that nothing is going on, in means nothing emergent is going on at that moment (as you guys found out) but may still need further eval with a cardiologist on an outpatient basis.

Stress tests, echos, angio’s aren’t going to be done with an ER visit unless the EKG/troponins are elevated and even then, it’s not really an ER visit as you’ll be admitted.

Whatever happened, it’s awful news.

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34 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:
4 hours ago, Thomas5737 said:

Yeah probably misread the EKG or it just didn't show anything abnormal. ER doctor sent my wife home and said it was her shoulder and not her heart and gave her pain meds. We were back a half hour later and the EKG showed an abnormality that time and they found a total blockage in her heart. Had she tried to sleep it off instead of insisting there was something really wrong then the same thing probably would have happened to her. Sad stuff.

In an ER settting MD’s only have EKG’s and cardiac enzymes for the most part. If those come back negative, it doesn’t mean that nothing is going on, in means nothing emergent is going on at that moment (as you guys found out) but may still need further eval with a cardiologist on an outpatient basis.

Stress tests, echos, angio’s aren’t going to be done with an ER visit unless the EKG/troponins are elevated and even then, it’s not really an ER visit as you’ll be admitted.

Whatever happened, it’s awful news.

Well an ER doctor probably shouldn't tell you not to worry because it isn't your heart it is your shoulder and we just can't pinpoint specifically what is causing the pain. If it would have been me I wouldn't have returned to the hospital and I have no idea if that is what happened in this case or even if it was a heart attack even though my best guess would be that it was. Sometimes as a patient I just think you have to be more demanding than what is sometimes offered at 3:00 a.m. in the E.R. I'm not saying those doctors don't care or are unqualified but they are working for us in a sense and we probably should trust what our bodies are telling us even if a doctor disagrees just to be on the safe side.

The cardiologist got there and inserted a couple stents within an hour and a half, last I knew they were just going to do a cath to be certain everything was okay and the next thing I knew the cardiologist was explaining the procedure he performed to me. The hospital still saved her life but it was a close call.

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13 minutes ago, Thomas5737 said:

Well an ER doctor probably shouldn't tell you not to worry because it isn't your heart it is your shoulder and we just can't pinpoint specifically what is causing the pain.

Oh for sure, she should have been referred to a cardiologist for follow up, just like I’d hope Sparano was.

13 minutes ago, Thomas5737 said:

If it would have been me I wouldn't have returned to the hospital and I have no idea if that is what happened in this case or even if it was a heart attack even though my best guess would be that it was. Sometimes as a patient I just think you have to be more demanding than what is sometimes offered at 3:00 a.m. in the E.R.

Absolutely, but being demanding doesn’t guarantee they’re opening up the nuc medicine lab for a stress test w/o elevated troponins or EKG abnormalities at 3am.

13 minutes ago, Thomas5737 said:

I'm not saying those doctors don't care or are unqualified but they are working for us in a sense and we probably should trust what our bodies are telling us even if a doctor disagrees just to be on the safe side.

I get what you’re saying, but as someone who’s worked on the other side of this, try telling a person with severe anxiety they’re having a panic attack and not an MI.  You could literally cath them and show them the inside of every cardiac artery and they’d still be skeptical.  Same for GERD.  Same for cervical disc issues causing left shoulder pain and numbness down the left arm.

The cost, time and resources to run stress tests, caths and/or echos on everyone who comes in with any of those complaints (not to mention the folks who complain of chest pain for a shot of morphine and a turkey sandwich, and yes, it does happen in ER’s) make it an unobtainable goal and somewhat out of scope for an ER whose goal is admit or discharge home if stable at that time, not necessarily diagnose.

13 minutes ago, Thomas5737 said:

The cardiologist got there and inserted a couple stents within an hour and a half, last I knew they were just going to do a cath to be certain everything was okay and the next thing I knew the cardiologist was explaining the procedure he performed to me. The hospital still saved her life but it was a close call.

And this is another part of it, smaller local hospitals don’t staff a cath lab or nuc medicine 24/7.  If you want those done, you’re calling in the on call cardiologist and entire on call staff.

And none of this even accounts for getting the procedure paid for by insurance companies.  I’m curious as to the odds of getting paid for claims for an emergent cath on a patient with no ekg changes or elevated enzymes.  Not good I’d imagine.

When your wife when back, it wasn’t persistent on your part, or peristance on the part of the medical staff that led to a cath, it was the EKG changes, which is unfortunatey what it takes.

It’s not a perfect system, I’ll admit that, but there’s definitely the potential for a lot more at play than just a “doctor who missed something”, which was really my only point with all of this.

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As a Dolphin fan Tony was one of my favorites, maybe in  over his head  a little bit as a head coach but a fantastic coach . He did a decent  job  with very little talent in Miami and a lot of that was a tribute to what a great guy he was. 

So sad for his family. Rest in Peace.

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1 hour ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

It’s not a perfect system, I’ll admit that, but there’s definitely the potential for a lot more at play than just a “doctor who missed something”, which was really my only point with all of this.

Sure, but my experience tells me it is quite possible. I'm not even saying they should do every intrusive test at the patients request but she didn't want to leave the hospital the first time because the shot they gave her for pain was supposed to work within minutes and after about 15 and no relief the doctor said he found it odd but stated it definitely wasn't her heart and she should go home and get some rest. I agreed with the doctor, I had been up about 20 straight hours so I wanted the easiest solution and she did have a history of left shoulder pain so I thought he was probably right. We got home 15 minutes later and she laid down and began sweating profusely, asked me to take her back to the hospital and I did, thankfully. She was having a heart attack when we first went in, it didn't become 100% blocked in the half hour in between so my experience tells me that when pain meds that are supposed to work for shoulder pain don't work to lessen the pain at all a doctor probably should error on the side of precaution and keep the p[atient around to observe. But yeah, I'm not saying the Dr. did anything wrong in Tony's case but first hand knowledge of a similar situation that could have happened leads me to believe it is a real possibility.

Ours was a small town WV hospital with a cardiologist on call so he did have to make his way to the hospital to do the procedure. We never complained or anything, it is what it is but we were educated a bit on the subject and that education could help someone in the future. She was quite a bit younger than Sparano, a female with no family history of heart problems nor any medical issues that she knew of at the time so it was unlikely to be her heart but unlikely doesn't mean impossible.

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The ER protocols are changing and they will push for 2-3  troponin/enzyme tests so they can see if its a trend or just interpersonal variability. The tests have gotten so sensitive that they pick up baseline levels in healthy people or even post-exercise boosts in serum levels - hence the interest in kinetics vs a single cutoff

http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/124/21/2350

"Robert Jesse quipped, “When troponin was a lousy assay it was a great test, but now that it's becoming a great assay, it's getting to be a lousy test.”

 

Sparano was a highly regarded NFL coach and human being , condolences to his family and friends

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15 hours ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

Not necessarily.

In an ER settting MD’s only have EKG’s and cardiac enzymes for the most part. If those come back negative, it doesn’t mean that nothing is going on, in means nothing emergent is going on at that moment (as you guys found out) but may still need further eval with a cardiologist on an outpatient basis.

Stress tests, echos, angio’s aren’t going to be done with an ER visit unless the EKG/troponins are elevated and even then, it’s not really an ER visit as you’ll be admitted.

Whatever happened, it’s awful news.

Thanks for this @LETSGOBROWNIES. Don't know why most people tend to blame the doctor when the entire story is not known. At any rate, it's sad to hear about stuff like then. Especially given that his wife found him and attempted to at least get him breathing again. Gotta be hard on her right now. RIP Mr. S. Prayers to the family.

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Isn't the Vikings offensive line already a big concern heading into the season? Major blow here. 

Sucks that Sparano passed. Notable coach in the league. Despite his limited success as head coach, he came off as someone you always wanted in the foxhole with you. Maybe the Vikings can rally around his spirit this year.

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10 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

Isn't the Vikings offensive line already a big concern heading into the season? Major blow here. 

Sucks that Sparano passed. Notable coach in the league. Despite his limited success as head coach, he came off as someone you always wanted in the foxhole with you. Maybe the Vikings can rally around his spirit this year.

They have already bought 53 Ouija boards

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