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Mom sues over son's '07 death in wilderness program
[January 23, 2009]

Mom sues over son's '07 death in wilderness program


(Salt Lake Tribune, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 23--The mother of a 15-year-old Utah boy who died in 2007 in a southwest Colorado wilderness therapy program is suing several corporations, a Utah doctor and two Utah agencies in connection with her son's death.



Dawn Boyd Woodson, the mother of Caleb Jensen, filed the civil suit in 3rd District Court last week.

In the suit, Woodson accuses the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services of wrongful death, not preventing alleged child abuse against Jensen, violating his constitutional rights, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. The negligence and breach of fiduciary duty complaints were also filed against the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.


Jensen died May 2, 2007, from a staphylococcus infection, which the civil suit contends went untreated despite obvious symptoms. The boy spent the last week of his life lying in his own urine and feces, in a remote camp operated by Alternative Youth Adventures in Montrose County, Colo., court documents state.

Jensen had been sent to the camp by Utah juvenile justice officials. Colorado authorities shut down AYA two months after Jensen's death.

The civil suit also accuses a Delaware corporation, a New Jersey corporation, the AYA, Utah doctor Keith R. Hooker and more than a dozen other people with wrongful death, gross negligence, battery, assault and inflicting emotion distress, among other complaints.

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