Parents of a student who commited suicide 2 years ago have filed a $43 million dollar lawsuit against Va Tech because the school allegedly did not take the proper steps after learning that Daniel Kim was suicidal. According to insidenova.com:
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A $43 million lawsuit accuses Virginia Tech of negligence in its response to a warning that a student was suicidal.
According to the lawsuit, Daniel Kim committed suicide on Dec. 9, 2007, about a month after the university closed its review.
Kim’s parents, Elizabeth and William Kim of Reston, filed the lawsuit last week in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit claims the university didn’t contact Kim, his parents, roommates or professors after a friend sent an e-mail to the school’s health center saying the 21-year-old senior was suicidal.
The lawsuit says the school relied on a Blacksburg police officer’s assessment that Kim seemed OK.
We don’t send our children to college to die. Does a college have responsibility for these young adults? I understand that on a large campus, there are several ‘jumpers’ each year. Some kids get away from home and die at parties from alcohol poisoning. Others are despondent and commit suicide. There are traffic accidents. Some are killed by others. Some are accidentally killed. Some disappear.
Where does the college have a responsibility and where is it a learning institution that cannot assume responsibility for everyone’s personal problems? I don’t know the answer but Tech sure does seem to be under the gun. If one believes the media, it sounds like the gang who couldn’t shoot straight. It just sounds like the ball is being dropped way too often.
Should these parents be able to hold the school responsible for their child’s death?
Is this situation related at all to shootings on campus?