Bethany BrunerColumbus Dispatch
A Lithopolis couple has filed a lawsuit against a state agency after they say their 10-year-old son died after drinking urine and feces infected shower water for hours on end.
Chelsea and Paul Spurlock filed the lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities on behalf of the estate of their 10-year-old son, Bentley, who died in July 2023.
According to the lawsuit, Bentley had been diagnosed in October 2021, at 8 years old, with a severe inflammatory brain disease that caused abrupt changes in his behavior. Those changes included becoming aggressive, impulsivity and rapidly gaining weight.
Bentley played football in the Bloom-Carroll School District and was an avid Cincinnati Bengals and University of Michigan fan. He also enjoyed playing with his younger sister and listening to Morgan Wallen's music.
After becoming ill, Bentley spent about 15 months in and out of Nationwide Children's Hospital for treatment, the lawsuit says, with an ultimate determination that a placement in a long-term residential treatment facility was needed to stabilize his behavior.
After unsuccessful efforts to find a facility that could meet Bentley's needs — and against the Spurlocks' objection — Bentley was placed at the Tiffin Developmental Center (TDC), a state-run facility that focuses on providing care to people with developmental disabilities. Because of Bentley's medical diagnosis, his parents were concerned that the facility, which is about two hours away from their home, would exacerbate Bentley's symptoms, the lawsuit says.
Bart Keyes, an attorney at Cooper Elliott representing the Spurlocks, said the hope of the lawsuit is to see institutional accountability and change.
"What was clear during the investigation is that the staff of the facility were not adequately trained to care for a child like Bentley," Keyes said. "If we're going to be a in a situation where a family has no choice but to have their child in a state-run facility, we need to make sure they can keep them safe."
The Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities said Wednesday evening that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
What happened to Bentley Spurlock?
Bentley went to the Tiffin facility on Feb. 22, 2023, for what was supposed to be a six-month stay to help stabilize his behaviors, the lawsuit says.
Prior to going to the facility, an assessment found Bentley had developed hyperphagia, an extreme hunger that often leads to overeating, as well as symptoms of his original diagnosis that included unsafe urination and defecation. He was required to have two staff members monitoring him at a time during his stay, the lawsuit says.
"The assessment warned of Bentley's proclivity for unsafe ingestions," the lawsuit says, noting Bentley had previously swallowed batteries, glue, erasers, muffin wrappers, feces, paint water, bath water and crayons.
During July 2023, there were at least 23 incidents of self-injurious behavior, the lawsuit said, including at least two occasions where Bentley had been seen by staff drinking feces polluted water off the ground or violently dropping to the ground in a shower.
On July 28, Bentley reported to staff members at TDC that he had an upset stomach and was escorted to a bathroom for a shower.
The lawsuit says Bentley remained in the shower for two hours where the staff members saw Bentley drinking water from the showerhead and from the ground, where the water had been contaminated with feces and soap.
Staff members turned the shower off repeatedly during those two hours, according to the lawsuit, but Bentley turned it back on and continued to drink the water with no attempts by staff to physically remove him from the shower area. At least six of the facility's staff members saw Bentley in the shower during this time with no attempts to remove him.
Bentley eventually left the shower voluntarily and went to a sensory room but had to be taken back to the shower after defecating on himself again, the lawsuit says. At that time, Bentley resumed drinking contaminated water and stayed in the shower for three additional hours.
The lawsuit says staff members did not do any examination of Bentley after he continued to defecate, did not attempt to remove him from the shower and did not seek additional assistance or medical treatment for the 10-year-old.
After about three hours, Bentley again voluntarily left the shower area and asked to watch a movie in the sensory room. He fell asleep, according to the lawsuit, and began making unusual breathing noises.
Bentley told staff members who tried to wake him to leave him alone, the lawsuit says, and fell back asleep, where the unusual breathing sounds resumed. The lawsuit says Bentley became unresponsive, at which point the facility's nurses were called. The workers who had been monitoring Bentley told the nurses they "thought he might be 'faking it'."
Special report: Deaths in Ohio jails
The nurses called 911 after being unable to rouse Bentley, the lawsuit says. He was taken by squad to Tiffin Mercy Hospital before being flown to Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Staff members did not tell Bentley's parents about his excessive consumption of contaminated water when letting them know that Bentley was being taken to the hospital.
Doctors at the hospital diagnosed Bentley with severe hyponatremia, an extreme low level of sodium in the blood caused by acute water intoxication. He never regained consciousness and Bentley's parents removed life support measures on July 30.
"If you dig deep and look at the root cause, it was a failure of leadership to train the staff and make sure they had the tools they needed to keep Bentley safe," Keyes said. "The family wants to make sure this doesn't happen to other families."
The Spurlocks have started doing blanket drives in honor of Bentley as a way to find some positives out of his death and pay it forward, Keyes said.
The lawsuit is seeking damages of $25,000 or more for claims of wrongful death, medical negligence and loss of consortium.
bbruner@gannett.com
