quote:

---

Fails family files lawsuit against Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas --The family of Texas A&M football player Brandon Fails filed a lawsuit Monday against the university, claiming his death last year could have been prevented if he had received proper treatment after knee surgery.

Fails, 18, died Nov. 25 after collapsing in his dorm room. An autopsy showed the freshman defensive lineman died of a blood clot that formed as a result of a leg injury and eventually traveled to his lungs. The death certificate cited natural causes.

The wrongful death suit, filed in state district court by Charles and Valerie Fails, names the university and a number of officials, including doctors, members of the athletic department management team and the athletic training staff.

It claims the defendants were negligent in the treatment and care of Fails after he injured his knee during football practice. The suit claims Fails was wrongly diagnosed and treated for a pulmonary infection when he had a pulmonary embolism following the surgery.

It is unclear where the clot originated. Fails, who was 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, had undergone arthroscopic surgery on his right knee weeks before his death. After the surgery, Fails experienced difficulty breathing and chest pains, according to the lawsuit.

A university spokeswoman did not immediately return a telephone call from the Associated Press on Monday night.

---

quote:

---

Dead A&M football player's parents sue university, staff

The parents of Brandon Fails, the Texas A&M University football player who died in November of a pulmonary embolism, sued the university and some of its personnel Monday, accusing them of negligence and gross neglect in their son's death.

The suit by Charles and Valarie Fails of Euless accuses A&M and team doctors and trainers of failing to recognize that their 18-year-old son had symptoms of pulmonary embolism, including breathing difficulty and chest pain, between Oct. 22 when he had arthroscopic knee surgery and his death Nov. 25.

The Failses' suit seeks unspecified damages under several claims, including mental anguish, loss of companionship, loss of enjoyment of life and loss of financial assistance.

Cindy Lawson, an A&M spokeswoman, said university policy prohibits her and others associated with the school from commenting on the suit, which was filed in state district court in Brazos County.

In addition to A&M, the suit names Dr. J.P. Bramhall, A&M's director of sports medicine and chief orthopedic surgeon; Dr. Richard A. Smith, one of the Aggies' team physicians; Tim Cassidy, associate athletic director for football operations; Karl Kapchinski, assistant athletic director for physical therapy; Danny Kniffin, athletic rehabilitation coordinator; and David Weir, a trainer who deals mainly with the football program.

Also named as defendants are Central Texas Sports Medicine and Orthopedics, Bramhall's corporation, and the Physicians Centre, the Bryan hospital where Fails' surgery was performed.

The Failses see the suit primarily as a way to draw attention to pulmonary embolism, a condition in which a blood clot becomes lodged in an artery in the lungs, Charles Fails said.

"If this can change the way sports medicine deals with pulmonary embolism in any way, it will be worthwhile," he said. "Maybe it can keep some other parent from going through what my wife and I went through.

"Brandon wasn't only my son. He was my best friend. This took him away from me. I feel they should pay for it."

Brandon Fails, a defensive lineman from Colleyville Heritage High School, played in four games as a true freshman at A&M last season before injuring his knee in practice Oct. 15.

The suit states that Bramhall performed the surgery on Fails' knee and that Smith examined him for breathing difficulties four days before his death.

According to the suit, Smith diagnosed Fails' condition as an upper respiratory infection and treated it with antibiotics and an inhaler. The medication was "inappropriate and inadequate" for treating pulmonary embolism, the suit states.

Pulmonary embolism typically results from a blood clot in one of the deep veins of the leg, a condition known as deep vein thrombosis, or DVT. Knee surgery is one of the common causes of DVT.

The suit asserts that A&M does not have governmental immunity under the Texas Tort Claims Act in this case because such immunity does not apply when personal injury or death results from the misuse of government property. The suit also challenges the constitutionality of a $250,000 cap on damages against government agencies and their employees.

Although Bramhall and Smith treated Fails in their capacities as A&M team physicians, they do not have the right to governmental immunity, according to the Failses' lawyer, Darrell Keith of Fort Worth.

The Failses were initially represented in their dealings with A&M by Dallas attorney Royce West, who directed them to hire Keith for the medical malpractice suit because of his expertise in dealing with the Texas Tort Claims Act, according to Diana Laquey, one of West's associates.

Keith, who sued A&M on behalf of the families of five students killed or injured in the collapse of the Aggie bonfire in 1999, said he saw similarities between the bonfire and the events surrounding Fails' death.

"The main similarity is A&M is not living up to its commitment that Aggies take care of Aggies," he said. "It's not enough just to say Aggies take care of Aggies. It means taking appropriate steps to monitor and treat pulmonary embolism in a young student-athlete like Brandon.

"The Fails case is another instance indicating that A&M failed to have a heightened awareness of a treatable danger."

---