Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Jordan McNair Student-Athlete Heat Fatality Prevention Act”.
Jordan McNair Student-Athlete Heat Fatality Prevention Act
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education to create a venue-specific heat emergency action plan.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
Heat-related illnesses are serious medical conditions that result from the body’s inability to cool itself down in extremely hot environments. Heat-related illnesses include heatstroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat syncope, heat rash, and muscle breakdown. When experiencing heat illness, patients may exhibit an array of symptoms, including confusion, slurred speech, unconsciousness, seizures, fatigue, elevated body temperature, fainting, dizziness, or muscle pain.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 700 heat-related deaths in the United States from 2004 to 2018. Heat is the leading climate-related cause of deaths, and rising temperatures pose a serious risk to student-athletes participating in outdoor sports.
Jordan McNair, a highly accomplished high school football player from Maryland, received scholarship offers from many competitive university football programs. He chose to continue his athletic and academic career at the University of Maryland.
On May 29, 2018, Jordan McNair collapsed during a workout on the University of Maryland’s football field in the 81 degrees Fahrenheit heat. McNair was suffering from heatstroke and was unable to remain in an upright position without assistance from his teammates and athletic trainers.
Despite being a student-athlete at a well-funded Division I university, Jordan McNair received inadequate heat-related illness treatment once he was escorted off the field and into the training room. Because athletic trainers were unable to reverse McNair’s core body temperature, the illness escalated to a seizure and respiratory distress.
Most medical professionals advise patients to receive treatment within 30 minutes of initial heat illness symptoms. Over 90 minutes passed from the time McNair displayed initial symptoms of heatstroke to the time he finally received adequate care from the nearest hospital.
By the time Jordan McNair arrived at the hospital, his core body temperature had reached a life-threatening temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit.
On June 13, 2018, two weeks after collapsing on the football field at practice, Jordan McNair died from symptoms of heatstroke.
Two extensive external investigations of the University of Maryland’s football program concluded that the program’s athletic training staff failed to promptly intervene, diagnose, and treat Jordan McNair’s heatstroke symptoms.
According to an independent medical report, University staff failed to assess Jordan McNair’s vitals, recognize and monitor heat-related illness symptoms, provide adequate cooling devices and respiratory aids, and generate an emergency plan to coordinate with emergency responders.
The McNair family is devoted to honoring Jordan’s legacy and founded the Jordan McNair Foundation, which provides an educational tool to help coaches, student-athletes, and parents identify symptoms of heatstroke and heat-related illnesses.
Heat-related illnesses and fatalities are preventable if caught early. Medical staff, coaches, and athletes must be knowledgeable of the warning signs for heat-related illness in order to protect student-athletes from injury, and even death.
Sec. 3 Venue-specific heat emergency action plan requirement
Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092) is amended by inserting at the end the following new subsection:
“(n) Venue-Specific heat emergency action plan requirement
“(1) In general—Each institution of higher education that is participating in any program under this title and that is a member of an athletic association or athletic conference, shall, beginning not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this subsection, develop and implement a venue-specific heat emergency action plan for the operation and use of automatic external defibrillators and cold water immersion equipment.
“(2) Requirements—A venue-specific heat emergency action plan developed and implemented under paragraph (1), with respect to an institution of higher education, shall—
“(A) include a symptom identification structure and a plan for staff and emergency responders to coordinate care for student-athletes;
“(B) be posted and visible in each—
“(i) locker room;
“(ii) athletic training facility;
“(iii) weight room; and
“(iv) outdoor sports complex and stadium;
“(C) be made available on the school’s athletic program website or public website of the institution of higher education at the beginning of each academic year;
“(D) be distributed to medical staff and coaching staff; and
“(E) be rehearsed in-person every year by medical staff, coaching staff, and student-athletes before the start of in-person training.
“(3) Annual report—An institution of higher education that is subject to the requirements of paragraph (1) during a 12-month period (or during a portion of such period) ending August 31 of a year shall submit to the Secretary and authorizing committees a report to demonstrate compliance during such period by not later than July 1 of the following year.”