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Boarder dies at Breckenridge

Rocky Mountain News

Published January 21, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
Updated January 21, 2008 at 1:45 p.m.

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A 33-year-old Kansas doctor was killed in a snowboarding accident at Breckenridge Ski Resort on Sunday.

James McLean, of Leawood, Kan., was on an intermediate run in the Park Lane Terrain Park when witnesses reported he went airborne and landed on his head, according to a statement issued by Summit County Coroner Joanne Richardson.

The coroner said McLean's cause of death was a fractured neck. He was wearing a ski helmet.

The resort was still investigating what happened, spokeswoman Nicole DeFord said.

The Breckenridge Ski Patrol was notified at 1:51 p.m. Patrol members provided life support and transported him to Breckenridge Medical Center, where doctors pronounced him dead.

A spokesman for the University of Kansas Medical Center said McLean was a resident there. He was a physiatrist, a physician who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and served as medical director of the KU Spine Center.

McLean was in Breckenridge on a ski trip with friends from his high school in New Jersey.

His death marks at least the sixth fatality among snowboarders and skiers this season in Colorado. Three of those deaths involved people caught by avalanches in areas outside the boundaries of ski areas.

In addition to those fatalities, two New Mexico snowboarders remain missing after disappearing in the backcountry outside of the Wolf Creek Ski area Dec. 27. And authorities in Routt County are investigating the death of a man found on a slope last week at the Steamboat Springs Ski Resort.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comments

  • January 21, 2008

    8:40 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    moty writes:

    This is awful news. Jim was a great guy.

    Just a correction, Jim was not a podiatrist, he was a spinal and rehab physician (Assistant Professor, Medical Director of the Spine Center at The University of Kansas Medical Center), which adds further horrible irony to this accident.

  • January 21, 2008

    11:28 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    joggle writes:

    What an unfortunate accident. Just because one can die wearing a helmet doesn't mean others shouldn't wear helmets. While they don't provide 100% protection against any possible accident, they often reduce injuries in less severe crashes than would otherwise occur if the person didn't wear a helmet. Helmets save people's lives all the time and even more often reduce injury, but of course this doesn't make the news.

  • January 21, 2008

    6:17 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Patrick_Foye_MD writes:

    What a tragic loss. Here was a young doctor who had committed his professional career to helping patients with spine disorders, only to have his own life end so early from a spinal injury.

    Dr. Jim McLean completed his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at UMDNJ: New Jersey Medical School (affiliated with Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation). He consistently went above and beyond the norm when it came to his commitment to medical education. When he graduated from the residency program in 2006, I actually created a new teaching award to recognize his passion and dedication for teaching the other physicians within the residency training program. It's one thing to be singled out and recognized to receive a teaching award like that, but it's yet another thing to actually inspire the award to be created in the first place. That was Jim McLean. He had a thirst for knowledge, a dedication to teaching, and a passion for life. He will be truly missed by his colleagues, his medical professional societies, and no doubt by his patients. I extend my deep sympathies to his family, friends, and all who knew him.

    -Patrick Foye, M.D.,
    Associate Professor of PM&R at UMDNJ: New Jersey Medical School.