Mother of G-League player who died of cardiac arrest after collapsing during a game sues the NBA
Cardiac issues are not new to pro hoops. A fifth of today's basketball players have abnormal-seeming hearts scans, according to one assessment
Formerly known as the D-League, or Developmental League, the G-League is the NBA's minor league. Its name is derived from its principal sponsor, Gatorade
According to a lawsuit filed by his mother, Upshaw died because 'no attempts were made to save his life,' such as CPR or defibrillation
Zeke Upshaw, 26, a forward on the Grand Rapids Drive, passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest during a game in March
Two months after her son Zeke suffered a fatal heart attack during an NBA G-League game, Jewel Upshaw is suing the minor league's parent company, the NBA, because nobody performed any potentially lifesaving measures on the Grand Rapids Drive forward.
According to the suit, Upshaw died because of negligence of the Defendants named in this litigation,' read the filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
'Zeke Upshaw, improperly attended, was left to lie unconscious on the hardwood, in his team's full uniform, slowly dying as his otherwise healthy heart sat, unbeating in his chest,' the suit reads, according to Deadspin.
'A heart that likely only needed a compression series, or a charged delivery from a defibrillator, to begin to pound again and to pump blood and life back into Zeke Upshaw. However, according to witnesses, no one ever attempted to revive him.'
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Zeke Upshaw collapsed from what ultimately proved to be a fatal heart attack
Zeke Upshaw played professionally in Slovenia before joining the Grand Rapids Drive (right)
According to his mother's lawsuit, Zeke Upshaw 'was left to lie unconscious on the hardwood'
Upshaw is said to have laid on the court for nearly four minutes before being carried off in a stretcher. A cardiologist who explained Upshaw says his brain was without oxygen for another 40 minutes after being wheeled off the court.
Jewel Upshaw's lawsuit claims that the Drive never had any plan in place for a potential cardiac arrest, even though the American College of Cardiology recommended that an emergency plan be in place, as explained by authors David Lee and Eugene H. Chung.
'When the otherwise healthy heart of a professional NBA athlete suddenly stops during a game there is absolutely no reason, in 2018, that his heart cannot be immediately restarted,' attorney Bob Hilliard said at a press conference in New York today. 'No attempts were made to save Zeke Upshaw's life. No CPR, no defibrillation, nothing.'
Cardiac issues are not new to professional basketball.
A fifth of today's basketball stars have abnormal-seeming hearts scans, according to the most detailed assessment of the NBA's heart health to date.
In college basketball, former Loyola-Marymount star Hank Gathers (left) famously died on court of a heart arrhythmia. Perhaps most notoriously, former Boston Celtics All-Star Reggie Lewis died from cardiac arrest during an off-season practice in 1993 after previously collapsing during a first-round playoff series against Charlotte only months earlier.
What's more, basketball players are 30 times more likely than any other athlete to suffer a sudden cardiac death and few seven-footers live to their 90s, according to research by NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University .
These findings do not necessarily mean basketball is dangerous for the heart: once the researchers cross-referenced their scans with an ultrasound, they found a lot of these abnormalities were relatively 'normal' and harmless for the players.
But they said it shows NBA stars needs their own unique type of heart assessments to monitor their health - especially as we stay stronger for longer, meaning players could enjoy much lengthier careers.
A number of players have suffered heart woes, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Jeff Green, Los Angeles Lakers center Channing Frye, and retired power forward Etan Thomas, formerly of the Washington Wizards. In college basketball, former Loyola-Marymount star Hank Gathers famously died on court of a heart arrhythmia.
Perhaps most notoriously, former Boston Celtics All-Star Reggie Lewis died from cardiac arrest during an off-season practice in 1993 after previously collapsing during a first-round playoff series against Charlotte only months earlier.