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Aug 6, 2009 6:55 pm US/Central
Settlement Reached In Death Of Student On Trip
MOUND, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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The family of Tyler Hill, 16, of Mound, said program officials were aware that he suffered from Type I diabetes and complex migraines.
CBS
A Mound mother and father announced Thursday that they had reached a settlement with the group that took their son to Japan in 2007. Tyler Hill, 16, died when he was left alone after he had asked for help and had been vomiting.
"He asked for help. They didn't give him the help that he needed," Sheryl Hill said.
Sheryl and Allen Hill can't talk about the monetary settlement they reached with "People to People," an organization that takes young people on trips abroad. However, they are talking about their what happened to Tyler so it doesn't happen to anyone else.
"We feel we did a very thorough job in Tyler's case but not all the information was available to us about the prior incidents or prior safety record," Allen Hill said.
Tyler, who had diabetes, began to feel sick after the hike.Tyler began vomiting and he was later seen spitting out blood. The group leaders checked on him then decided to leave him alone. He was found in a diabetic coma ten hours later and never regained consciousness.
What Tyler's parents didn't know is that one of the leaders on Tyler's trip had been on another trip were a teen had died after drinking alcohol.
Sheryl Hill said, "I would never have sent Tyler on a trip with a leader who had been on a trip with another child who had died in that manner."
The Hills are pushing for a federal law to provide oversight as well as a database of safety records.
"We hope that we can inform other parents and have them take special precautions so that this does not happen again," Allen Hill said.
For now the Hills advise parents to consult the state department recommendations on what families should do if they have a teenager traveling abroad.
Those recommendations are on a special website dedicated to Tyler. Find it at
Links & Numbers.
People to People did not return phone calls.
The organization did apologize for what happened to Tyler.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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