CT father wants heart screenings for student-athletes. Why some doctors are pushing back
Artie DiRocco's son was a star athlete at Wilton High School who died of an undetected heart condition. He wants electrocardiograms for most student-athletes, but some doctors say it's unnecessary.
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A local father is taking his fight to require heart screenings for most student-athletes to Hartford.
But he’s running into opposition from a surprising group – doctors.
“HE HAD NO SIGNS”
Even from an early age, Artie DiRocco knew his son was a gifted athlete. What he didn’t know was that George would never live to see his 17th birthday.
“My otherwise perfectly healthy, 16-year-old, three-sport athlete son, at a friend's house in their backyard, suffered cardiac arrest and passed away,” DiRocco said. “I didn’t realize that my child had a heart condition. He had no signs.”
DiRocco played football and baseball at Wilton High School. But in 2020, he died suddenly from a heart condition that was never detected.
“Who thinks, ‘Oh, my perfectly healthy child has a heart condition? I should get an EKG,’” his father asked.
DiRocco wants to make sure no other parent misses the signs. He now works with In a Heartbeat, a nonprofit that provides students free electrocardiograms, also called ECGs or EKGs.
“If we screen 200 kids and we find nothing, that’s 200 parents that should be able to sleep better at night,” he said.
EKGs FOR STUDENT-ATHLETES?
DiRocco wants Connecticut to require an EKG for most student-athletes.
This year, lawmakers introduced a bill requiring a separate cardiac screening form for “high-intensity” sports like football, basketball or hockey. Any student with a family history of heart issues would be required to undergo an EKG before playing sports.
“Kids go for annual physicals,” said In A Heartbeat founder Mike Papale, who survived a surprise heart attack in high school. “They go for sports physicals, and that usually does not include an EKG.”
OPPOSITION FROM COACHES AND DOCTORS
But coaches and cardiologists lined up against the proposal, arguing it was both unnecessary and confusing.
“The Connecticut State Department of Education currently requires completion of a Health Assessment Record (HAR), commonly known as the ‘Blue Form,’ before any student may participate in interscholastic athletics,” Connecticut High School Coaches Association executive director Leonard Corto told lawmakers. “Rather than establishing a separate process to collect additional health information, the more practical and effective approach would be to amend the existing Health Assessment Record to incorporate any new cardiac screening requirements.”
A top cardiologist said the current system works – and that an EKG should not be the first step.
“We’re never going to catch everybody, but we can catch a lot of people,” said Dr. Rachel Lampert with Yale School of Medicine. “The requirement of EKGs for all student athletes for any ‘yes’ on the [family history] form doesn’t provide the highest quality medical care. An ECG is very often the next step, but there may be other important aspects of the work-up.”
After hearing from doctors, lawmakers removed the EKG requirement.
Now, the bill requires all student athletes to get a health assessment that “must include a physical exam that screens for serious cardiac conditions that could lead to sudden death.” The physical would be free for lower-income students.
The proposal is now part of a wide-ranging omnibus health bill that already passed the Connecticut House of Representatives. The state Senate has until next Wednesday to vote on it.
Meantime, Artie DiRocco said he won’t stop fighting for more screening.
“It’s what he would have chosen to do,” DiRocco said. “It takes a tragedy for people to care.”
