A Florida court has rejected a bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the parents of a Minor League Baseball player who died of a heart condition even though a team doctor marked the player’s recent health evaluation as “normal.”
The state’s 20th Judicial Circuit Court in Lee County on March 11 denied a motion by defendant Dr. David Olson to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the parents of a minor leaguer – Ryan Costello – who played for a Florida team affiliated with the Minnesota Twins.
The defendant’s attorney argued that the Florida court should apply Minnesota's workers’ compensation law to the case and conclude Olson would be immune from medical-malpractice liability. But the court found that the dispute should be governed by Florida law since the medical exam that is central to the plaintiff’s arguments occurred in Florida.
“The Court finds that (the) defendants have not met their burden of proof for summary judgment,” the circuit court said in its opinion. “Rather, the evidence indicates the opposite is true and Florida law perhaps is the appropriate choice of law.”
Both parties in the litigation have agreed that if Florida law applies in the case, Olson would be afforded no immunity, according to the opinion.
The incident central to the lawsuit unfolded in 2019, when Costello and other players were examined by Olson in preparation for minor-league spring training. Costello was deemed “normal” with an indication of “No further action necessary,” despite an electrocardiogram showing that he had a cardiac abnormality caused by Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW), according to the lawsuit.
Costello later died during a baseball trip to New Zealand as a result of a cardiac arrhythmia resulting from WPW, according to the plaintiffs’ lawsuit.
Attorney Gary Fox, who represents Ryan Costello’s parents, Christopher and Tammy Costello, said the failure to identify the baseball player’s heart condition was due to sloppiness and negligence.
“I think that this doctor … had to do exams of 30 or 40 players on the same day,” Fox told the Florida Record. “As a result, if you’re not very careful, things can slip between the cracks. … And some things that slip between the cracks are critically important.”
Treatment for the WPW condition in healthy people is 99% effective, he said, adding that Costello could have continued to play baseball if the problem had been flagged and he had undergone the needed artery treatment.
“The very sad thing about Ryan’s case is that the life-threatening condition he had … was very, very treatable,” Fox said. “... This young man should not have died.”
The impact of Ryan Costello’s death on his family has been devastating, he said, noting that the parents were first informed of their son’s death by the U.S. embassy in New Zealand.
“They never had a chance to say goodbye to him,” Fox said. “Nobody knew he was ill, much less that he had a life-threatening condition.”
A Florida appeals court previously concluded that the plaintiff’s claims would not be subject to an arbitration agreement that existed between minor league players and Major League Baseball entities. The plaintiff’s dispute was an intra-club matter that is not subject to arbitration, according to the appeals court.
The medical-malpractice trial is scheduled to get under way in Lee County in June.