The parents of Nick Lang, the teenage boy who took his own life while in government care, have filed a lawsuit claiming a series of mistakes and a lack of attention cost their son his life.
The civil suit includes a long list of what Lang’s parents claim are errors that all played a role in their son’s 2015 death.
It claims probation officer James Morgan didn’t know Lang could have been offered treatment closer to his home and that he failed to gather crucial information about the teen’s drug abuse problem.
Nick Lang was 15 when he took his life while in the care of the Ministry of Children and Family Development in Campbell River.
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The lawsuit claims that in the days leading up to his death, Lang sent his mother a series of text messages where he threatened to kill himself. It claims when she reached out to warn his probation officer about this, her calls weren’t returned.
The suit accuses the officer of: “failing to take any or adequate precautions to prevent Nick harming himself in light of the information available between April 2, 2015 and June 2, 2015 when Nick commenced the Headstart program” and “wrongly informing Nick that he would be unable to return to the care of the Plaintiffs, thereby increasing the anxiety in a child with mental health issues including self-harm.”
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Lang was found dead in June. Monday would have been his 16th birthday.
His parents will officially file the lawsuit in court Tuesday.
– With files from Jill Bennett
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