School ‘refused’ to give teen medicine during 17-minute seizure, lawsuit says. He died
The family of a 14-year-old who died after having a seizure at school has filed a federal lawsuit against the school district, court records show.
Jaxson Mendoza was a freshman at Amarillo High School when he died on Aug. 25, 2022.
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on behalf of his parents, Apryl and Gabriel Mendoza, alleges that the school district “refused” to administer Jaxson’s emergency medication when he experienced a 17-minute seizure.
McClatchy News reached out to the Amarillo Independent School District, named as a defendant, on Aug. 13 for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Jaxson, diagnosed with epilepsy when he was in sixth grade, had a 504 Action Plan on file that detailed what school staff should do if he had an epileptic episode or seizure, the lawsuit said.
According to a copy of the action plan included in the lawsuit, staff were instructed to give Jaxson Midazolam in nasal spray form for any seizure lasting longer than five minutes, and to call 911 if the seizure did not stop within one minute of administering the medication.
On Aug. 24, 2022, Jaxson began seizing while running on the track to warm up for basketball practice, the lawsuit said. School staff then called the boy’s parents and emergency services.
Jaxson, who was “frothing at the mouth and had gray coloring,” had been seizing for approximately 17 minutes by the time his father arrived, according to the lawsuit.
The freshman’s seizures typically only lasted between two and two and a half minutes, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges the the district “refused to administer Jaxson his emergency seizure medication” during that time “which is inconsistent with Jaxson’s emergency seizure action plan.”
When emergency medical personnel arrived, they performed CPR on Jaxson before taking him to a local hospital where he died the next day, according to the lawsuit.
Jaxson’s family is seeking damages and a jury trial, the lawsuit states.
