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April 16, 2005
Parents Seek
to Add Defendant in Wrongful Death Suit
ST. JOSEPH, Mo.
(AP) -- The parents of a California boy who died at a northwest
Missouri boot camp want to add the camp's medical officer as a
defendant in their wrongful-death lawsuit.
Attorneys for
Victor and Gracia Reyes, of Santa Rosa, Calif., filed a motion
Thursday to amend the lawsuit in Buchanan County Circuit Court.
Roberto Reyes,
15, died Nov. 3 of what an autopsy report said were likely
complications of a spider or insect bite.
His parents sued
Thayer Learning Center, three employees and a referral service in
February, alleging that physical exertion and abuse caused or
contributed to Roberto's death.
The lawsuit also
claimed that the boy would have lived had he received timely medical
care.
The boy's
parents sought to amend it after the release of a state
investigative report that found fault with medical care at the home
and said records might have been falsified.
Documents filed
Thursday also make allegations that were not in the original
lawsuit.
Among them were
claims that Roberto was punished by being made to wear a 20-pound
bag of sand around his neck and that at least four days before his
death he was so sick that he was left in bed.
The proposed
amendment would add Dorothy Steele, identified as the boot camp's
medical officer in the state's 275-page report, as a defendant.
One witness in
the report, which was obtained earlier this week by The Kansas City
Star, said Steele decided whether students would be taken to a
doctor.
The report also
said that Steele, also the kitchen manager, is not a registered
nurse and has not had an emergency medical technician's license
since her last one expired in 2003.
Attorneys for
Thayer Learning Center have denied the lawsuit's allegations.
On Friday,
Steele said she had no comment.
The state report
quoted Steele as telling investigators that two days before his
death, Roberto complained to her about sore arm and leg muscles and
blisters on his feet, but had no other medical complaints.
Caldwell County
Prosecutor Jason Kanoy, who received the state report last week,
said he is still reviewing it before deciding whether to file
criminal charges.
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