As seen in the Colorado Daily News
Ben Stattman was one month shy of graduating from CU-Boulder when he was found dead in his apartment on April 13, 2005.
The 28-year-old molecular biology major bled to death from self-inflicted wounds.
Now his parents are suing Wardenburg Health Center, saying the CU health center misdiagnosed their son's mental illness and prescribed pills that pushed him over the edge.
In October, Ken and Carol Stattman of Colorado Springs filed a malpractice suit against CU in Boulder County District Court, claiming Wardenburg wrongly diagnosed their son with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and prescribed medication that led to his suicide.
CU will file a formal response to the suit early next week.
The university was “heartbroken when Ben Stattman took his life,” said CU System spokesperson Michele McKinney, but is not responsible for his death.
“The university believes that its health-care providers are not responsible for his tragic suicide and will be asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit in the upcoming weeks,” said McKinney.
Ken Stattman says Wardenburg's alleged misdiagnosis and prescription led to Ben's downward spiral.
“They were treating him for a condition he never had, which in our view caused him to have this breakdownŠ” said Ken Stattman.
The “breakdown” Ken is referring to happened six months before Ben's suicide, when Ben was hospitalized at Boulder Community Hospital for three to four days.
According to Ken, BCH found that Ben had a psychotic disorder.
But after Ben was released from the hospital, Wardenburg continued to treat him for ADHD, not psychosis or depression, according to Ken.
McKinney says Ben wasn't a Wardenburg patient in the year before he killed himself.
“In April 2004, the Wardenburg Health Center discharged Benjamin as a patient,” said McKinney.
Ken says Ben continued to fill a prescription from Wardenburg.
“His medication is more recent than that,” said Ken.
Wardenburg had prescribed Ritalin and Straterra for Ben's ADHD diagnosis. Bottles of the prescription pills were found next to his body.
Toxicology reports showed Ben “did not have anything elevated (in his blood stream) other than what was prescribed,” at the time of his death, said Ken.
The family's attorney Tom Beltz contradicted earlier reports that said the Stattmans are asking for more than $100,000.
“At this point there's not a specified amount that we're requesting,” Beltz said.
Beltz said that some Colorado law provisions place a cap on the amount of claims that can be made against a government entity, and he's investigating whether or not those provisions apply to CU.
A lifelong resident of Colorado Springs, Ben served in the Navy for three years immediately after high school, touring through the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the Caribbean. He moved back to Colorado Springs after his service and lived with his parents while pursuing a general studies associate degree at a local community college.
Ken said he never saw any signs of depression or mental illness in Ben when he lived at home.
After graduating from community college, Ben came to CU-Boulder to complete an undergraduate degree.
“He performed very well at school and worked in the summer,” said Ken. “He didn't appear to be out of the norm in any way.”
Ken declined to say what triggered Ben's first visit to Wardenburg.
Ben lived alone in an apartment on Aurora Avenue, where he was found dead.
He had been scheduled to graduate that May.
Had he lived, he planned on working in a biology research lab while pursuing an advanced degree, said Ken.
Ben's parents continue to live in Colorado Springs. His sister Rachel, who is one-and-1/2 years older, lives in Lakewood, Colo.
Ken said that filing the lawsuit - and re-hashing the past - has been emotionally draining.
“We're not trying to remember this, we're trying to get over it,” he said. “It's very difficult to lose a child.”
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