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Friday
Apr222005
Friday, April 22, 2005 at 03:30PM
A state report on the death last year
of a California teenager at a northwest Missouri boot camp found fault
with access to medical care there and said records may have been
falsified. The Caldwell County Sheriff's Department had asked the
Missouri Department of Social Services to investigate the November
death of Roberto Reyes, 15, of Santa Rosa, Calif. The youth died at the
Thayer Learning Center in Kidder, less than two weeks after arriving
there. An autopsy cited complications from rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown
of muscle fibers, and said the condition was probably due to a spider
or insect bite. In a wrongful death lawsuit filed in February in
Buchanan County Circuit Court, the boy's parents alleged that he was
subjected to physical exertion and abuse that caused or contributed to
his death. Reyes' parents also claim their son would have lived had he
received competent and timely medical care. The state report was given
last week to Jason Canoy, the Caldwell County prosecutor, who released
it to The Kansas City Star. Canoy said he hadn't decided whether he
would take any action. "There are some alarming parts about it," he
said of the 275-page report. "But I have not made a decision as to who
I would file charges on or if I would file charges at all." The state
team that investigated said the boot camp apparently "failed ... to
provide access to appropriate medical evaluation and/or treatment."
Further, it said, "interviews and evidence also suggest significant
contradictions and possible deliberate falsification of written
records." [more]