What happened
Payton died on Aug. 14 after suffering from a medical emergency in the school’s gymnasium. A cause of death has not been released by the Harris County Medical Examiner’s office as of press time.
In an Aug. 19 news release, officials confirmed 170 of the district’s 1,038 AEDs were not operational following a districtwide inspection the previous day.
Officials said orders have been placed for replacement parts for the nonworking machines, noting all of the AEDs will be reinspected before the end of August. Additionally, officials are now proposing changes to the way the district handles safety and medical management.
A closer look
HISD Superintendent Mike Miles provided additional context on the circumstances surrounding Payton’s death at an Aug. 16 news conference.
“Landon [Payton] experienced a medical emergency during a [physical education] class,” Miles said during the news conference. “He received immediate medical assistance from the Marshall Middle School teachers, the HISD police and medical personnel. He also received medical assistance from [Emergency Medical Services] and was transferred to the hospital by the EMS team.”
According to an Aug. 22 article by Community Impact partner ABC 13, staff at Marshall Middle School told officials with the Houston Federation of Teachers that an attempt to use an AED device on Payton was unsuccessful because the device did not work.
HISD Senior Media Relations Specialist Jose Irizarry said the district could not comment on whether Marshall Middle School officials used an AED in an attempt to treat Payton, or whether the AED that would have been used under those circumstances was functional due to the possibility of litigation.
However, Irizarry noted staff members at every campus in the district have been trained to deal with medical emergencies and employ life-saving techniques such as CPR. He also noted every campus had at least one working AED, noting there was an average of three working devices per campus.
What’s next
HISD officials said changes to the way the district handles safety and medical management are now being considered, according to the Aug. 19 news release.
“Currently, policy ... makes principals and work location supervisors responsible to ensure AEDs are available and working,” officials said in the news release. “Moving forward, we will amend that policy to place the responsibility and authority with the appropriate central office teams.”
