Coroner blames Goliath, then reverses decision, over fatal aneurysm
Posted Tuesday, June 5, 2001 4:45 AM | Contributed by RideMan
According to the county coroner in a story from The Los Angeles Times, the death of a woman sustaining an aneurysm on Six Flags Magic Mountain's Goliath
"was due to an accident on the ride, due to injuries she sustained." The representative continued to say, "It was a not a natural cause of death."
Later in the day, the Associated Press reports that coroner's office made a "premature" judgement, and that the case "wasn't finalized."
I don't know the organization of the Los Angles coroner's office, but I've never heard of a coroner with the title of Leutenant. Coroners are normally M.D.s. Makes me wonder who this guy was.
It wasn't the coasters fault nobody knew it was gonna happen. coasters rule. If every coaster was to blame for an accident and they blamed it all on coasters there would be none. could you imagine this world without rollercoasters ,thrill rides it would be boring.
(Note: I do not mean this to be morbid, but I have been thinking about this.)
I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Since I have a medical history of fatal aneurysm in my family, I asked him his opinion on this. He said if the condition was there, the ride could certainly have made it let go. However, he said there is no way to test for the existence of the condition. Therefore, continuing to ride roller coasters (especially for someone with my history)a form of Russian roulette.
However, keep in mind my grandfather died when his blood vessel let go while talking on the telephone; my mother's stroke (non-fatal aneurysm) occurred while she was pulling weeds; and a friend's colleague had an aneurysm while sitting at a meeting table. Of all the choices, I think going out on a coaster would be my choice (and I have already given instructions I am to be cremated and my ashes strewn to the winds from a coaster).
I still can't understand how a coaster can cause and aneurysm. My family has a history of them and I have never heard of anyone having it "caused" by anything. I would assume if you have a blood vessel problem, the g forces on a roller coaster or even excessive movement on any ride could cause a weakened of deformed blood vessel to collapse. Is this ride severe? I have never ridden it, but had a friend who did and said it was fun, but didnt make any excessive comments.
Has anyone heard if this woman has ever ridden any coasters before; especially one as intense as Goliath or Titan? Maybe this was her first ride on a big coaster. Also there are a lot of pretty intense rides out there like Batman and there is MF at Cedar Point. Does anyone know of any problems like this on these rides.
I don't know how likely high G's would be to cause an aneurysm to burst. High G's tend to reduce the blod pressure in the brain (That's why you can black out) which I would think wouldn't cause a problem. Negative G's if strong could be a problem as could any strong shaking. Also, the excitement or fear could cause a rise in blood pressure. But then so could any stressful incident in life, such as dealing with an insurance company. Any physiologists out there?
My mom was talking to my doctor the other day and he told her that the ride did set it off, but it was by no means the ride's fault. Like so many of has have said, or guessed, it would have burst at some time, it just happened while riding Goliath. To blame it on Goliath is just ridiculous.
Looks like the only law suit we'll see is Magic Mountain against the coroner for defamation. Pretty poor choice of words, especially the "accident." 