O'Neal's parents revise lawsuit against Mizzou staff

~ The changes targeted team leaders' ignorance of sickle cell trait.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A revised lawsuit filed Tuesday by the parents of a Missouri football player who died during preseason workouts last year targets team leaders' unfamiliarity with the symptoms and exercise-induced complications of sickle cell trait.

Although a county medical examiner identified viral meningitis as the official cause of death for reserve linebacker Aaron O'Neal, the amended complaint focuses on the role of the genetic condition that a growing number of athletic trainers and team physicians across the country suggest should be more closely monitored.

Despite the medical examiner's conclusion, the chairman of the university's pathology department and several outside experts have suggested that sickle cell trait -- a blood disorder found in an estimated 8 to 10 percent of the U.S. black population -- was a contributing factor in O'Neal's death.

"Aaron O'Neal died from a vascular crisis caused by sickle cell trait and extreme physical exertion, which caused several systems and organs in his body to shut down," reads the revised lawsuit, filed in Boone County Circuit Court along with a motion asking a judge to approve the changes to the complaint.

"The actions and inactions of the defendants on July 12, 2005, demonstrate that they had no familiarity with, or ignored or forgot their required training concerning sickle cell trait."

Such training varies widely among college sports programs.

NCAA guidelines treat the condition as "benign" and require members only to consider voluntary testing. But some sports medicine experts are calling for the NCAA to require mandatory preseason testing, noting that intense heat and dehydration can cause potentially fatal complications in athletes with the blood disorder.

The National Athletic Trainers' Association, in conjunction with the NCAA, will host a summit in early 2007 to explore the link between sickle cell trait and risk to athletes.

Individuals with sickle cell trait have one normal gene for hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells, and one abnormal gene. Unlike normal, rounded red blood cells, the sickle-shaped cells carry less oxygen and can clog blood vessels that flow to the heart and other muscles.

The trait is distinct from sickle cell anemia, a condition that affects fewer people and in which two abnormal genes are present.

Hamp Ford, the Columbia attorney representing the university, said he could not comment on the revised complaint because he had not had a chance to look it over.

A Missouri football spokesman did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Missouri does not test athletes for sickle cell trait. Oklahoma, also a Big 12 school, is among the universities that screens athletes.

E. Randy Eichner, Oklahoma's team doctor, is an outspoken advocate of enhanced testing, calling the 12 deaths of college football players with sickle cell trait over the past 30 years "shameful."

At schools that screen for sickle cell trait, athletes who test positive are more closely monitored during exercise and often given longer rest breaks, according to Oklahoma head trainer Scott Anderson.

The revised lawsuit follows several months of document acquisition from the university by attorneys for Lonnie and Deborah O'Neal through the legal process known as discovery. A review of those documents led to the amended complaint, said O'Neal family attorney Chris Bauman.

Among the new allegations:

* O'Neal, a 19-year-old redshirt freshman, told the strength and conditioning coaches supervising the voluntary summer workout, "I'm telling you, I'm not weak, I just can't go anymore."

* With the stricken player slumped on the floor of a Faurot Field locker room, an unidentified strength coach blamed O'Neal for his condition.

The lawsuit was initially filed in August 2005 and names 14 team officials as defendants, including head coach Gary Pinkel and athletic director Mike Alden.