MONTEREY PARK : Coroner Says Athlete’s Death Was Accidental

An autopsy of 18-year-old Carey Couch, who died in January several days after winning a wrestling title, has found that the Alhambra High School senior died of arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, during a medical procedure.

Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said Couch’s death was ruled accidental because he died during a medical procedure, called cardiac catheterization. “If there were any abnormalities in his heart, they weren’t enough to cause the death,” Carrier said.

The coroner’s office had conducted months of laboratory tests in an effort to determine why Couch, who had no history of heart problems, went into sudden cardiac arrest and died at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Hollywood.

The Monterey Park youth played baseball and football, wrestled and ran track, said his parents, Betty and Harry Couch, both former Monterey Park mayors.

After winning a wrestling title in Reno in late December, Couch suffered a minor knee injury. At home the next day, Couch began coughing up blood, and his parents took him to Kaiser Permanente in Hollywood. Doctors ran tests but found no visible sign of injury. They scheduled exploratory surgery for the following Monday.

That same afternoon, doctors discovered something was blocking the flow of oxygen to Couch’s body, and they performed a battery of unsuccessful tests. Early the next morning, on the first day of the new year, Couch went into cardiac arrest during the catheterization, which was performed in an attempt to diagnose the problem.

For the youth’s family, including a younger and older brother, the wait to find out why Couch died has been an emotionally blistering period.

“This is something I’ll never get over,” Harry Couch said. “For the people who knew him, he was somebody who left a big mark in this world.”