Injured South Korean Boxer Declared Brain Dead

[welsh_lad_04]

Injured South Korean Boxer Declared Brain Dead

The following is off the AP Newswire:

Injured South Korean boxer declared brain dead

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer
January 2, 2008

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A South Korean boxer who lost consciousness after winning an WBO intercontinental flyweight bout last week has been declared brain dead.

Choi Yoi-sam was declared brain dead Wednesday after a series of brain tests, said Ko Seung-kwan, a spokesman at Asan Medical Center. Choi had been in a coma since shortly after winning the fight against Indonesian challenger Heri Amol in Seoul on Dec. 25.

The 33-year-old Choi was knocked down shortly before the end of the 12th and final round, but got back up and was declared the winner on points before collapsing.

Doctors were scheduled to remove Choi's organs for transplantation Wednesday night after getting approval from the prosecutors' office, a legal requirement before organs can be removed, said Ko. South Korean media reported that Choi had said he would donate his organs.

Choi's family requested that he be officially pronounced dead early Thursday following the removal of the organs, according to the hospital.

"He has lived a hard life," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted Oh Soon-hui, Choi's 65-year-old mother, as saying. "I hope he has gone to a peaceful place."

She couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

South Korea's boxing commission had no immediate comment.

In 1982, South Korean lightweight Duk Koo Kim died four days after being knocked out by Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini in a title fight in Las Vegas. Another South Korean fighter, bantamweight Lee Tong-choon, died of acute swelling of the brain in 1995, four days after losing consciousness following a fight against Setsuo Kawamasu in Tokyo.

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[brvheart]

well this sucks....I hate to hear it about anyone. But esp in a striking sport that MMA is compared to.

[jegray]

yeah- thats not good. It would be interesting if they would do a study to see if some people are more prone to this or if they just got hit, "just right", one too many times. With all the medical and neurological research they do you'd think that would be important. Instead of just being satisfied with the excuse- "oh well his brain just struck his skull" or "he ruptured one of his cranial membranes."

[brvheart]

yeah I hear you on that one. I think they have the "he knew the risk" attitude and see no need to spend more effort on it. It is much easier to write some things off then spend $$ and effort on them to find out something that they think they already know.

My stance is if they think they know it why does it happen to few and not everyone, is there some common link that they all had that made it happen, or just their number got called that day.

[jegray]

Thats the thing too- they write it off and collect the money that should be invested in understanding ourselves. This study could help them understand some key element of the human body that could inspire what is needed to cure cancer. But why do that when they can drop into studies that make little difference. AKA some of MIT's studies that get funded are a bit rediculous. If you want to know one- I'll cite it for you. Granted some of MITs work is very important. Don't get me wrong on that.