MINNEAPOLIS -- Results of an autopsy on the body of Korey
Stringer confirm the Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman died of multiple organ failure due to heatstroke.
Stringer's agent, James Gould, said Thursday night the family
accepts the results but will continue to seek answers to their
questions. The family will closely monitor the ongoing state
Occupational Safety and Health Division investigation into
Stringer's death.
"We felt it was appropriate at this time to release it," Gould
said. "We feel strongly these that these things are preventable,
they shouldn't happen and can't happen in the future. The more we
can get out about it, the better we feel, if there is such a
thing."
Gould said the autopsy showed Stringer was not taking any
supplements or had any pre-existing conditions.
"You realize the soul and spirit of the individual can't be
found in the report," said Gould, who was "pained" by reviewing
the autopsy results with Stringer's wife, Kelci.
"It's not real," he said. "Just getting the report probably
makes it even more difficult, not what it says, but it brings up
more stuff we just went through."
In an interview Friday morning with Katie Couric on NBC's "Today" show, Stringer's widow Kelci said that while she did not blame the Vikings for her husband's death, she does believe that teams should recognize that there have been increases in the heat index and that they should move practices to early in the day and at night instead of mid-day.
Vikings officials and medical staff are meeting OSHA officials,
who have inspected the team's practices, nutritional education
programs and medical treatment procedures. The investigation, a
routine practice for deaths that occur in the workplace, is
expected to last another few weeks.
"It's a tough time for us," said Gould, also the agent for New
England Patriots wide receiver Terry Glenn -- who missed training
camp for the fifth consecutive day Thursday after being receiving a
four-game suspension from the NFL for violating its substance abuse
policy.
"That's the way things happen in life," Gould said. "You're
gliding along, and then all of a sudden everything's different."
Stringer, a 27-year-old Pro Bowl right tackle, died last week at
a Mankato hospital, about 14 hours after collapsing after an
intense practice in stifling heat and humidity. The heat index was
99 degrees when the Vikings left the field about 11:30 a.m. on July
31.
The Vikings are in San Antonio this weekend, preparing to play
their exhibition opener against the New Orleans Saints.
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