Posted on Fri, Apr. 15, 2005
Associated Press
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - 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.
Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com