doctors

Sean and Heidi Cripe will never forget the call from their son’s high school saying Davis was being taken to the emergency room.

“He chugged an energy drink — like, just trying to be cool,” said Sean Cripe, recounting the day nearly a decade ago.

The teen’s heart soon fell out of rhythm and he died. While such deaths are rare, doctors across the country have warned for years that energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine that can seriously harm children, causing problems such as abnormal heartbeats, increased heart rate, sleep disturbances, dehydration, agitation, high blood pressure and seizures.

A newly formed coalition of doctors is highlighting these risks in the wake of a sponsorship deal between Monster Energy and the Big 12 Conference college athletic organization. The group has asked conference leaders to pause the sponsorship and the NCAA to review energy drink marketing to youths in general, citing the deaths of three children including Davis, a 16-year-old from South Carolina.

The doctors stress that they’re not just concerned about Monster but all energy drinks and any similar partnerships.

“Kids are going to see energy drinks now promoted by the universities and the athletes that they admire and want to emulate,” said Dr. Matthew Nelson, an Idaho cardiologist involved with the effort. “The kids will think of them as sports drinks, which they’re not.”

Too much caffeine can harm kids in many ways

Various medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say children and teens should avoid energy drinks altogether. Yet many are not. According to the latest results of the federally funded Monitoring the Future survey, run by the University of Michigan, 23% of 12th-graders, 20% of 10th-graders and 18% of eighth-graders reported consuming energy drinks daily.

Depending on the product, caffeine content can range from 80 to 300 mg per serving. By comparison, a typical 8-ounce coffee contains about 80 to 100 mg and some sodas contain 50 mg or less. Overall, the pediatrics academy recommends children ages 12 to 18 limit caffeine to 100 mg a day. Younger kids are discouraged from consuming any caffeine.

Caffeine and other stimulants increase heart rate and the reactivity of the nervous system — basically “how fast things go in the body, which can create an overload of the system,” said Dr. Tamara Hannon, an Indiana pediatrician who chairs the academy’s nutrition committee.

She likened it to running a blender until the motor heats up too much. “The same thing can happen when you deliver stimulants to people,” she said. “The heart can wear out, the nervous system can go haywire and you can have really serious consequences.”

Mixing different types of caffeine can be risky

Children with preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure are at especially high risk, Hannon said, but even healthy children who get too much of a stimulant can have serious problems. That includes young athletes.

Another consideration: Kids often drink various types of caffeinated beverages. That was the case with Davis Cripe, who died in 2017. According to the coroner at the time, Davis had no prior heart condition and drank a Mountain Dew and a latte from McDonald’s earlier in the day. He experienced arrhythmia after having the energy drink.

It wasn’t the first time Davis drank one, although he didn’t consume them regularly.

“We had talked to him and let him know that they weren’t healthy,” Sean Cripe said. “We didn’t understand they could be deadly.”

Trade group says the energy drink industry tries to protect kids

The American Beverage Assn. — which includes Monster and other companies comprising 94% of the energy drink category — said members voluntarily disclose caffeine totals on product labels, which carry advisories such as: “Not intended for children, pregnant or nursing women, or persons sensitive to caffeine.” Members also don’t sell or market energy drinks in K-12 schools.

Monster Energy said in a statement that caffeine and other drink ingredients are found in a broad variety of food products. “Mainstream energy drinks have been marketed worldwide for more than 30 years and more than 100 billion energy drinks have been sold and safely consumed globally,” the company added.

The deal between Big 12 and Monster calls for a co-branded logo on football and basketball jerseys, fields and courts, and across digital and social media channels.

“The energy drink category is not new to collegiate athletics,” the Big 12 Conference said in a statement, adding that beverage companies are always looking for ways to reach sports fans.

The NCAA doesn’t have the authority to regulate conference or school sponsorship agreements, Dr. Deena Casiero, the association’s chief medical officer, told the doctor group in a letter. She said the association offers schools educational resources on caffeine and student-athlete health, and caffeine has been a topic of interest for an NCAA committee, which recently commissioned a cardiac advisory group.

How to educate kids about excess caffeine

To protect children, teachers and coaches can educate them about the dangers of too much caffeine and the difference between energy drinks and sports drinks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sports drinks are designed to help replace water and electrolytes lost through sweating after activity.

Parents and other adults can also model good behavior by not consuming energy drinks in front of kids.

On a related topic, Harvard Medical School experts say there’s no scientifically valid evidence behind the common belief that caffeine can stunt a person’s growth.

At well visits, parents should talk with pediatricians about all the beverages their children are consuming, said Hannon, who often advises families to “Rethink your drink.”

Sean Cripe said sharing stories like his could also help children understand that energy drinks are not for them.

Ungar writes for the Associated Press.

Physicians accuse Israeli Medical Association of remaining silent as Palestinian healthcare is systematically destroyed.

Hundreds of doctors have gathered outside the World Medical Association (WMA) summit in the Netherlands, calling for the suspension of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the grouping of physicians.

On Saturday, 81 healthcare workers removed their scrubs and hung them in a line facing the WMA assembly in Rotterdam, each bearing the name of a Palestinian healthcare worker currently held in illegal Israeli detention.

It was part of a protest against the continued membership of the Israeli association in the WMA, “despite them breaching almost every ethical principle in the WMA’s Code of Medical Ethics”, the IMA Out! coalition that organised the demonstration said in a statement.

“These scrubs should not be empty. Our colleagues belong with their patients, not in Israeli prisons. Today, we literally placed their names at the WMA’s doorstep,” said Mejrem Ahmetaj, a general practitioner and member of IMA Out!.

Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 1,700 Palestinian healthcare workers and destroyed nearly all the hospitals and healthcare facilities in the enclave.

The campaign accused the Israeli medical association of remaining silent as Palestinian healthcare has been systematically destroyed.

“The IMA is not a bystander. It defends these attacks and blocks international condemnation while Palestinian healthcare is being destroyed. That is not medical neutrality. That is complicity,” added Ahmetaj.

At a meeting of international doctors, medical leaders and human rights activists during the WMA summit on Thursday, the destruction of Palestinian healthcare and the responsibility of the international medical community were discussed, the campaign said.

“Our Palestinian colleagues are being killed and imprisoned, where they are starved and tortured. Their hospitals have been destroyed and patients driven out or murdered. The IMA has said and done nothing about these war crimes against health workers, patients and hospitals,” said a statement by Jonathan Fluxman on behalf of IMA OUT!.

“Thirty years of WMA dialogue with the IMA has done nothing but give the IMA a sense of impunity … It is time for national medical associations and the WMA to speak out and take action. Break your ties with the IMA and suspend the IMA from the WMA now,” he added.

The IMA OUT! campaign said it delivered a petition calling for the IMA’s suspension, signed by more than 6,500 health workers from around the world.

They also demanded accountability for the complicity of Israeli doctors in the starvation, torture and medical neglect of Palestinian prisoners.

Among those held by Israel is Dr Hussam Abu Safia, head of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, whose unlawful detention has prompted an international outcry.

He was briefly held at the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp and has been subject to torture and medical neglect. Doctors protesting in Rotterdam held up placards demanding his release.

Abu Safia’s son Elyas, addressing a meeting organised by the campaign, said, “My father and all Palestinian detainees must be treated in accordance with medical ethics, and doctors must abide by the Hippocratic oath they have taken. Care cannot be given based on whose life is deemed worthy.”

Octavia Hughes asked for help in the days before her death. She leaves behind an eight-year-old daughter

A beloved mum and former stylist on The Voice went to the doctor three times in the days before her death, but was told she had a migraine and to go home.

Octavia Hughes died from a bleed on the brain after being rushed to hospital with stroke symptoms caused by a torn artery in her neck. The 38-year-old, known as ‘Tav’, leaves behind her eight-year-old daughter Dolly and a community of grieving family and friends.

Hospital bosses have offered their condolences to Octavia’s family and said they will “do all we can” to give them answers. Octavia, a fashion designer and owner of a popular second-hand clothing shop in Whitstable, had started getting headaches while walking at Manchester Fashion Week in early September.

She first sought medical help on September 14, when she went to her GP and was reportedly told she was having a migraine and sent home. The mum-of-one also called 111 before attending A&E at the QEQM Hospital in Margate the next day, and was told the same thing, according to friend Paula Chappell.

When her condition did not improve, she went back to A&E on September 17, but was again reportedly sent home. Her family say that the next morning, Octavia woke up with stroke symptoms and was rushed to Kent and Canterbury Hospital, where she had emergency surgery. It is understood that her stroke was caused by a torn artery in her neck.

Octavia then suffered a bleed on the brain and was transferred to King’s College Hospital in London where – despite medics’ best efforts – her family was told there was nothing they could do. Octavia’s organs were donated while she stayed on life support, and she died on September 23.

Paula said: “I think that’s what’s so horrific is that we should have never got to the point we did on Friday. By the time we got to that point, we were just on a downward spiral. She was never a complainer. She wasn’t one of those people who moan about not being well. She’d be a trooper.

“She was walking at Manchester Fashion Week the weekend before, even when the headaches had started to come on. She would never go to the GP, never complain and was definitely not someone that would go three times for no reason.”

Her sudden death has now left friends and family to care for Dolly. “They were little mini besties,” said Paula, who runs an art gallery and met Octavia eight years ago. She would feature on her socials all the time. We all adore our children, I know we do, but their bond was something I’ve never seen.

“We’ve got Dolly to look after and that’s the focus now, to try and make sure that we can get the funds so she can still do the things that Tav would have done with her. We just need to make sure there’s a small bit of financial security in the interim, whilst everything is going on, so we don’t always have to worry about finances as well.”

Paula set up a fundraiser which has already amassed more than £26,000 in donations. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “It shows us how much she was loved by people who didn’t even know her.”

Octavia studied fashion promotion at Southampton Solent University. Her first job after uni was as a stylist’s assistant on The Voice UK, before she worked for several years as a freelance TV stylist. She also ran a pub with her brother, styled e-commerce shoots and worked as an art director for major UK brands. She moved to Whitstable 10 years ago and had her daughter.

In 2019 she set up We Sell By the Sea, followed by Prelove and Reloved. This year, she opened No.86 as a home for her second-hand business in Whitstable High Street. “She’s the friend who knew everything about me,” said Paula. “She’s the one who knows my secrets, the one I would message a hundred times a day.

“She changed my life. I’m not by any means an introvert and I’m quite outgoing, but we danced and we laughed harder and louder together than I ever have with anyone.

“She was loved by everyone. It’s left a hole in all of our hearts, and we will miss her forever.”

A spokesperson for East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, which runs the QEQM and Kent and Canterbury Hospital, said: “We offer our sincere condolences to Octavia’s family. We will do all we can to answer their questions and will also work with the coroner to understand the circumstances of Octavia’s death.”

You can donate to the fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-support-dolly-through-this-unbearable-loss?cp_src=d