Local Doctor Reacts To Sudden Collapse On Field By Buffalo Bills Player

Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin remains in critical condition after collapsing on the Cincinnati field during the first quarter of Monday Night Football. The team says he suffered cardiac arrest.

Millions who saw the play and the aftermath shared the feelings of Dr. Aaron Smathers with Ortho Central in Norman.

“Just shocking,” he says. “It’s something you don’t see very often. You typically read about this type of stuff in textbooks.”

He’s familiar with those textbook examples as a sports medicine physician.

“It’s very rare especially in a full-grown male athlete with padding, but it does happen.”

While the official cause of cardiac arrest in Hamlin hasn’t been released, Dr. Smathers believes the culprit is likely Commotio Cordis.

“What that is, is when you get a blow to the chest that is hard enough to disrupt the normal rhythm of the heart,” he describes. “It hits at a certain part of the electrical conduction in the heart and causes an arrhythmia.”

He says it is more common in younger athletes with more pliable chests, and it’s typically seen in baseball or martial arts.

Still, those few seconds during the first quarter Monday may have parents wondering if football is just too dangerous.

Dr. Smathers says parents ask him all the time.

“There’s risk in anything that we do. There’s risk in all sports,” he points out. “There’s risk in not doing sports - long-term things you know if you’re not healthy. You always have to weigh the risk and benefits.”

In addition to primary care, Dr. Smathers is also a sideline physician for several schools across the metro. He says districts should take the opportunity to review their Emergency Action Plan and practice.

Some Oklahoma districts may not have the resources available to provide EMS on-site, but the OSSAA says each should have an Emergency Action Plan.

The plan lays out who takes which actions in the case of a medical emergency or injury.

It also says schools should have an AED or Automated External Defibrillator.

You can find all OSSAA recommendations and guidelines HERE.