Making the Right Call for Eric

New answers only raise new questions in the death of Reseda High School football player Eric Hoggatt. Autopsy results released earlier this month show the 17-year-old running back died in his sleep from head injuries probably received during a tough game Sept. 12. While the Hoggatt family expressed relief that neither drugs nor an undiagnosed medical condition killed Eric, the news again raises concerns about the safety of prep sports.

Yes, football is dangerous. The risk of broken bones or torn ligaments is assumed when a kid pads up and hits the field. Injuries like Eric’s, which could have been suffered any of the 14 times he was tackled that night, are as hard to diagnose on the field as they are deadly. Eric reportedly complained to teammates of dizziness and numbness--symptoms of a head or spinal cord injury that should have received immediate medical attention.

Yet the volunteer team doctor sent Eric home without even a call to his mother. A call might have prompted the family to take Eric to the hospital, where the internal bleeding that killed him could have been caught and treated. There is some question over whether Eric explained his complaints to the doctor. Nonetheless, Eric’s death points up how difficult it can be to diagnose potentially fatal injuries amid the noise and confusion of the sidelines.

Getting a young athlete to admit he or she is not feeling well can be tough enough in the confidential atmosphere of a doctor’s office, let alone in a crowd of peers. But that difficult task is the responsibility of the doctors and coaches in whose hands parents place their kids. Because not enough questions were asked on the sidelines Sept. 30, the Los Angeles Unified School District now must answer a bigger question in court: Why did Eric Hoggatt die?