OU sued by student burned on class trip
Ohio University failed to protect a student who had an epileptic seizure and fell face-first into a fire while on a wilderness trip, according to a lawsuit filed by the student’s parents.
The school is responsible for the severe burns to Christopher Mance’s face, arms and hands because officials knew about the student’s history of epilepsy and did nothing to protect his health and safety, the family alleges in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Ohio Court of Claims.
Mance was a 21-year-old senior when he went on a wilderness survival trip in 2006 that was required for his recreation class.
Officials with Ohio University, located in Athens, about 60 miles southeast of Columbus, issued a statement on the lawsuit.
“Everyone here has a deep compassion for the young man’s situation resulting from his accident. The facts in cases of this sort, however, are always more complex than they seem on the surface,” the statement said.
Mance noted his history of epilepsy on a medical form required for the trip, said Robert Miller, a Columbus attorney representing the South Easton, Mass., family.
Mance took an anti-convulsive medication called Depakote to avoid seizures, but it was less effective because he had to modify his sleeping and eating patterns for the trip, Miller said.
“That creates a very dangerous situation for somebody who is epileptic,” Miller said. “It is irresponsible and negligent to allow an epileptic to remain in the woods alone.”
Students on the trip were left alone in secluded areas of the forest, where they had to find food and preserve a campfire overnight, Miller said. Mance was found after he had been burned.
The university didn’t appoint an instructor to supervise Mance or send him for a medical check to determine whether he could handle the trip, Miller said. Mance and his parents were unaware of the risks involved in the trip, he said.
Shriners, an international health system that provides rehabilitative care for people with burn injuries, has covered all of Mance’s medical costs.
Mance is to undergo another five years of surgery, but his face will be altered for the rest of his life, said William Burke, a rehabilitation specialist who has worked with Mance’s physicians.
Burke said this will prevent Mance from finding a job in most fields because he needs to work in a controlled environment where the public can’t see him. “It’s one of the most intolerable handicaps,” Burke said. “We are also in a society where physical attractiveness is extremely important.”
Tags: aims, amp, campfire, columbus attorney, dangerous situation, depakote, epileptic seizure, handicap, health and safety, health system, history of epilepsy, international health, mance, medical check, recreation class, robert miller, seizures, severe burns, south easton, the trip, Trip, wilderness survival, wilderness trip, young man
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Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 11:22 pm under