The University of Memphis legal council is investigatingaccusations that Lady Tiger Volleyball coach Carrie Yerty allegedlypunished her players for smoking by making them alternately runlaps and smoke cigarettes.
According to players' parents and sources, the punishment led tovomiting and nosebleeds among the players, who smoked approximately13 cigarettes each. These individuals questioned whether this typeof punishment could lead to nicotine poisoning. Sources also saidthe athletes have been suffering from chest and lung pains sincethe incident.
The number of cigarettes the players smoked in the short amountof time is dangerous, said Cardiologist George Reynolds ofCardiovascular Associates in Jackson, Miss.
"Tobacco is a stimulant and can cause an increased heart rate,"Reynolds said. "That is a huge amount of nicotine."
Reynolds said this type of chain-smoking produces the poisonousgas carbon monoxide, which constricts the amount of oxygen aperson's body is taking in by basically pushing it away, which, inaddition to heavy exercise, like running in this case, can be veryharmful.
The fact that players were vomiting and suffered from nosebleeds following the alleged punishment was probably because of thecarbon monoxide in their system and because they were receivingless oxygen, Reynolds said.
A.D.A.M., a health information service accredited by theAmerican Accreditation HealthCare Commission, lists severalsymptoms of nicotine poison as vomiting, headaches, elevated bloodpressure, difficulty breathing and abdominal cramps.
Reynolds said this type of alleged punishment could "wreak allsorts of havoc on a bronchial system," including vessel spasms andvascular spasms.
The number of cigarettes smoked in the short time frame of thealleged punishment can be compared to a smoker who smokes two packsa day, Reynolds said. In the time frame the athletes were punished,a heavy smoker would only smoke approximately 3 cigarettes.
