10-year-old died more than an hour after getting out of swimming pool

I've never heard of this before. Wow.

That's horrible. My heart goes out to the family.

Aspiration-induced lung injury or chemical pneumonitis. Obviously he got out of the pool and was able to clear his lungs, but the water (and perhaps the chlorine as well) induce an inflammatory reaction that takes some time to settle in. AdventureBear, any thoughts?

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WOW! Never heard of that before - very scary - especially for those of us with children who LOVE to be at the pool.

I remember this story when it happened (June 2008). Very sad.

Got out of the pool about an hour ago, now I'm scared.

I'm an ICU doc, but also worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor for 7 years while in high school and college.
I'm pretty sure this would be due to near-drowning while at the pool (hence why he soiled himself), that set him up for dying later from lung injury. There are several possibilities that may have contributed to this. Bronchospasm or laryngospasm from aspirating should have shown up right away, but people can get something called negative pressure pulmonary edema because they are pulling so hard to breath. This could account for the white foamy stuff the mom described. Sometimes with aspiration the water can disrupt the surfactant that normally lines the air sacs in the lungs, causing them to become leaky and lose the ability to stay open. He could also have a direct chemical injury to the lungs that can lead to an inflammatory response that accounts for why he died later. The inflammation takes a little time to ramp up. I'm sure there is a pulmonologist on BT that could explain this better, but I hope that helps.

I'm a lifeguard and we always have to be careful in informing parents about dry drowning. 5 millilitres (about a teaspoon) of water is enough to cause death by drowning and this can easily sit in the lungs following a near-drowning incident. Dry drowning itself can occur anytime up to 72 hours after a near-drowning incident. Try explaining that to the parents of a child you have just rescued without causing them to become hysterical.

After any near-drowning incident get yourself taken to hospital or your doctor just to be safe. They'll run breathing tests (peak flow, etc) and possibly aspirate if they feel necessary. The most important thing, after all that, is to ensure that the person who was rescued sleeps on their side. I know it sounds ridiculous but sleeping on their side (or stomach) will help to release any fluid in the lungs and avoid it settling in the alveoli.