Negligence, Carelessness Alleged : Suit Filed Over Death at VisionQuest Camp

The parents of a teen-ager who died in a New Mexico reform camp run by VisionQuest after staff members ignored his pleas for medical help filed suit Thursday against the controversial organization and San Diego County, which had contracted for its services.

Attorney Jack G. Whitney filed suit against VisionQuest on behalf of Gerardo and Elisa Cano of Chula Vista. The Arizona-based organization maintains wilderness camps in New Mexico and Pennsylvania where youth offenders are sent as an alternative to prison.

Their son, Mario, 16, had been at the organization’s minimum-security facility near Silver Springs, N.M., for four days when he died April 27 of a blood clot that traveled to his lungs. While at the camp, Cano was forced by staff members to participate in rigorous physical training despite his insistance that he was not well, the suit said.

A county grand jury in New Mexico later cleared VisionQuest of any “criminal intent” in Cano’s death. VisionQuest officials claimed that Cano’s death was caused by an injury he suffered before he was sent to the camp. The suits seeks damages in an undetermined amount for wrongful death and for personal injuries.

Neither R. Ledger (Bob) Burton, VisionQuest’s chief executive officer and founder, nor Michael G. Roddy, Juvenile Court administrator, could be reached Thursday for comment.

San Diego County was named in the suit because Cano was placed in the custody of the San Diego County Juvenile Department last March and was later sent to the VisionQuest facility.

The suit said that as a result of the defendants’ negligence and carelessness in failing to provide necessary medical attention for Cano, “his condition worsened, resulting in severe physical pain, a loss of strength and activity, shock and injury to his nervous system and person.”

The suit charges that while at the VisionQuest camp, Cano was subjected to physical and emotional punishment on several occasions.

On April 24, 1984, the suit said, Cano was instructed to dig a latrine hole. Despite his statements and the staff’s observations that Cano was in no condition to dig the hole, the suit said, Cano was required to continue digging.

Staff members on April 25 made Cano remain in a standing position after they watched him fall on his face while trying to do a push-up, the suit said. On the morning of April 26, after watching Cano fall while trying to perform an exercise, staff members asked Cano to hold out his arms, the suit said. On April 27, the day Cano died, staff members took him to a room for a “managed exercise” session, the suit said. The suit alleges that during this session, Cano was “pulled about the room and verbally harassed by staff members until he collapsed on the floor.”

The suit further alleges that VisionQuest has failed to comply with state licensing and staffing requirements, and has failed to provide adequate medical services to its wards.

The suit says San Diego County officials were aware of VisionQuest’s failure to comply with state licensing and staffing guidelines, “yet failed to take and appropriate administrative action to rectify the situation.”