Brady Alan Folkens
Brady Alan Folkens was 17, a brilliant student, a talented guitar player and a protective older brother who planned to study nursing in college. His mother, Dawn Van Ballegooyen, has described him as "a firecracker" and said he wrote journal entries and looked forward to her weekly phone calls and visits. In December 2013 he was held at STAR Academy, a juvenile correctional facility near Custer, South Dakota, where his family and retired surgeon Lars Aanning, who is helping with a federal lawsuit, say he was prescribed minocycline despite a past reaction to a related antibiotic. They say he then developed fever, vomiting and jaundice, was taken to a hospital, and died in Sioux Falls. Aanning says he died from medical negligence, the lawsuit alleges a cover-up, and the 2024 amended death certificate lists a reaction to minocycline.
Cause of death, as reported: Died from neglect by staff (disputed). Retired surgeon Lars Aanning, working with the family on a federal lawsuit, says staff prescribed minocycline despite a past reaction to a related antibiotic and failed to treat his fever, vomiting and jaundice, and the amended death certificate lists a reaction to minocycline.
Reported by: Lars Aanning, retired surgeon (family or their lawyers); his family's federal lawsuit (family or their lawyers); amended death certificate.
Lawsuit: His family, with retired surgeon Lars Aanning helping, filed a federal lawsuit over his care at STAR Academy, and the sources report no settlement or award amount.