A doctor at a Costa Rican hospital is sharing new insight into Miller Gardner’s medical emergency and death.
Dr. Kevin Gannon, who runs Quepos Urgent Care hospital in Quepos, Costa Rica, tells Us Weekly that his team tried to resuscitate Miller after being called to his hotel on Friday, March 21.
While speaking to Us on Wednesday, March 26, Gannon, who did not personally treat Miller, said that the hospital dispatched a medical team to the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort, where Miller — the 14-year-old son of former New York Yankees star Brett Gardner — was staying with his family.
“We received the call from the hotel and we responded immediately,” Gannon explained to Us. “The emergency was for a patient who was a non-responsive 14 year old male. At the scene was a licensed physician, a nurse and an ambulance first response driver.”
Before his sudden passing on Friday, March 21, 14-year-old Miller Gardner was staring at a bright athletic future. Miller, son of former New York Yankees star Brett Gardner, died while on a family vacation in Costa Rica last week. His preliminary cause of death was ruled as asphyxia “after a possible intoxication after apparently ingesting […]
When they arrived on the scene, they found “a 14-year-old patient with no vitals” with his “family members” also present. According to Gannon, the team “performed advanced life support CPR for 30 minutes” and the patient was “declared dead after 30 minutes.” They then “called the authorities.”
Autopsy results are pending. “We don’t know what caused this,” Gannon adds.
Gannon would not discuss Miller’s clinical history or possible cause of death. He did say that other members of his family had “gastrointestinal symptoms.”
Earlier Wednesday, an official for Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) told Daily Mail that the Gardners — Brett, 41, his wife, Jessica, their older son, Hunter, and Miller — had suffered from “severe stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea” after eating at a nearby restaurant on the evening of Thursday, March 20.
A doctor from the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort was called immediately and allegedly gave them all medication for their symptoms.
The next morning, Miller was found dead in his hotel room. His preliminary cause of death was initially classified as asphyxia “after a possible intoxication after apparently ingesting some food.”
Then, an official from Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) told CNN on Tuesday, March 25, that Miller likely died from “asphyxiation due to intoxication related to food poisoning.”
However, an official from OIJ told Us on Tuesday that asphyxia had been entirely ruled out as the cause after Miller’s airwaves were observed to be unobstructed.
Brett Gardner’s family has been unable to retrieve son Miller Gardner’s body in Costa Rica due to red tape. “The family have not been able to pick the body up yet because they are still waiting for all the procedures required by the American embassy here,” Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) Juan Pablo Alvarado […]
Authorities are now investigating whether the medication given to Miller the night before his death might be to blame.
“We’re doing toxicology tests to determine if this medicine could have caused the death,” the OIJ official told Daily Mail.
The official also said they are investigating whether Miller “brought an existing bacterial infection” with him when he traveled to Costa Rica from the family’s home in Summerville, South Carolina.
Results of Miller’s autopsy and toxicology reports could take months due to an outbreak in gang violence in Costa Rica, according to the OIJ.
“We’re having a hike in homicides as these drug gangs battle for territory and every one of them needs an autopsy,” the official told Daily Mail.
