Colby Bray’s parents are suing the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections. Their claim is that the agency’s failure to tend to their son’s medical conditions in a timely manner resulted in his death. Colby Bray died in state custody in 2019 at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. Jeffery and Michelle Bray say that they notified the juvenile detention staff on Nov. 21, 2019, that Colby was sick and needed help. Colby told the staff at the juvenile detention center that he was sick, vomiting, and that he had diarrhea and kept losing his balance and falling.

“Staff at the detention center told Colby to drink Gatorade”, and administered Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Imodium, and Zofran (a prescription anti-nausea medication). Finally, on Nov. 24, 2019, Colby was transferred to Madison Memorial Hospital by ambulance. His heart rate was 143 beats.

Hospital staff diagnosed Colby with inflammation of the intestines and say that he had fluid in the abdomen.

“Nobody believed me when I said I was sick”, Colby told the hospital staff shortly before his body began seizing for 8 minutes. He became unresponsive and was sent to the ICU. His heart stopped, and after 36 minutes of CPR he was transferred to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center where he immediately had to be given CPR again.

On Nov. 25, 2019, doctors attempted to do surgery on Colby but found his bowel and liver were dead. The state of Idaho allowed Colby to be on life support just long enough for his family to say their goodbyes.

“Had Colby received proper medical treatment sooner, the outcome, in this case, would have been different,” family lawyers claim.

“Youth safety is our chief concern. The health and wellbeing of youth in our care is the highest priority of the IDJC and our staff. However, due to the pending litigation, we are unable to comment at this time”, retorted the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections in an email to EastIdahoNews.com.

Our prayers go out to Colby’s family. A lawsuit will never be enough to bring justice, or Colby back to the people that loved and cared for him, but hopefully the staff that neglected him and caused him so much pain until he died will be held responsible and hopefully no other child in state custody will ever be neglected until they die.

“Colby had a very artistic personality, he loved writing music and sharing it with everybody he cared about. His life dream was to be a music artist. He wrote many songs the last few months of his life and would call his mom and sing them to her over the phone.  If he wasn’t writing his songs you could find him adventuring, longboarding, and spending time with his family and friends.  He was a beautiful artist.  He loved going on adventures, as he put it, and everything was an adventure.  He discovered surfing last summer and was looking forward to more of that in his future. In the last few months of his life, he grew a great testimony of his Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.” His obituary reads…..

Minding Hearts is building advocacy and peer support groups, “Hearts and Minds” in each state. The groups are created to raise awareness, educate, and advocate for those that might not otherwise be heard. We are here for encouragement, education, and support. We cannot give legal advice, but we can try and direct you in the right direction with your case. Links to legal services are listed with their states. Please share and let’s grow our groups. We are here to support families and develop resources that maintain family integrity. We look forward to your support. If you would rather become active by donating, then visit the donation page. Thank you.