This ABC News story details the death of a 10 year old boy from "secondary" drowning. He had been playing in the pool, well supervised, and four hours later died while napping. It appears he inhaled water but appeared to be alright for a few hours, then, during his nap, died. The article gives full details and some medical explanations.

drowning

By Bellajoe on Friday, June 6, 2008 - 07:47 am:

Sounds like a freak accident type thing to me.

It's sad that he was so supervised from the water wings to 3 adults looking after him. They took all the precautions you should when a child is in the pool, and he still died. So Sad.

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, June 6, 2008 - 09:48 am:

Bellajoe, I thought so at first myself, but reading what the medical people say, this sort of tragedy can happen when someone (child or adult) aspirates water. Not often, that's true, but nonetheless, something to be aware of.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, June 6, 2008 - 10:23 am:

Wow, that is pretty scary!

By Hammockhugger01 on Friday, June 6, 2008 - 11:32 am:

As a former lifeguard, I can confirm that this is something we were watchful of. If any child was pulled out of the water that child's family was notified to watch them closely.

Anytime a foreign item, especially fluid, is aspirated the lungs react to clean out the fluid. Unfortunately, this response is to flush the lungs with more fluid to clean the alveoli of the foreign item. This can fill up the lungs quickly causing "drowning" which is why it's called secondary drowning. It does not happen often but can occur.

By Crystal915 on Friday, June 6, 2008 - 09:02 pm:

That makes my experience Tuesday even more frightening! The poor family, it's so tragic.

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, June 6, 2008 - 10:09 pm:

When I saw this article, I thought of your experience, Crystal.

By Dramamamma on Saturday, June 7, 2008 - 11:21 pm:

That is so sad and so very scary.

By Karen~admin on Monday, June 9, 2008 - 06:31 am:

I read that last week, I had no idea that could happen to you.