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The parents of a 17-year-old Boy Scout who died a year ago while hiking in the Everglades have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Court against the Boy Scouts of America and its South Florida Council, the scoutmasters who supervised the hike and Plantation United Methodist Church where Scout Troop 111 was based.
On May 9, 2009, Michael Sclawy-Adelman participated in a 20-mile hike through The Florida Trail in Big Cypress National Park in the Everglades. His parents, Howard Adelman and Judith Sclawy-Adelman, say that even though halfway through the hike their son started exhibiting symptoms of heat exhaustion, the scoutmasters continued on.
According to the parents, Michael became “dizzy, disoriented and delirious” by mile 15. The hike was stopped, but no call for medical help was made for another 90 minutes, according to GPS data and investigative reports.
An article in the Naples News had quoted scoutmaster Howard Crompton as saying it appeared that Michael was “a little overheated and a little dizzy so we sat him down, gave him some water and put his feet up and let him rest. Then he stopped breathing.”
Crompton performed CPR until an emergency medical helicopter arrived; Michael died shortly thereafter from heat stroke.
The heat in Florida has always presented challenges for those participating in strenuous physical activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides information on how to prevent heat-related illnesses on their website, which you can access here.