Terry and Gayline Tom, parents of Nicholas Austin Tom who died after attending the 2015 Electric Daisy Carnival, filed suit against Insomniac and Live Nation accusing the promoters of training the staff poorly and having inadequate medical resources for the many attendees. Tom’s parents claim a slow medical response led to their son’s death, who died of an ecstacy overdose per the coroner. Tom’s parents lawsuit alleges that the medical tent was empty, and the ground crew that arrived had minimal medical training. Their son was then left on the floor for 30 minutes, where he died, per to the lawsuit. is parents stated in the suit that the “roaming medical teams” organizers touted were absent during Tom’s seizure, and the staff was either untrained or ill-equipped to handle a medical emergency.
In addition, at the 2017 version of EDC last Friday night a similar accusation was leveled by Jennifer Marshall, the wife of Michael Morse a 34-year old from apparently heat-related seizures.
“They were waiting in an Uber line when he began convulsing and having seizures. At that point, he was taken into the medical tent. He remained in that tent for a little over four hours,” Jennifer Marshall said.
“Why did he sit in a tent for four hours? Why wasn’t he taken to the hospital where doctors could have possibly done more? From my understanding, they did take other people to the hospital. But I don’t know why they didn’t take Mike. This is such a senseless death.”
Insomniac provided a statement regarding medical treatment available on site:
“The unexpected passing of a loved one is tragic, and while the exact cause of this tragedy is still unknown, we do know that family and friends are grieving. It is with great sadness that we send our thoughts and condolences to the loved ones of the man who passed away after the festival had ended,” the statement said.
“Our health and safety plan is created over several months with local agencies. Our roaming medical personnel are available twenty-four hours a day, free of charge, with the best emergency room doctors, nurses, EMTs and paramedics in the country. A full staff of security and police are also available to all attendees. We encourage everyone to approach our caring staff and ask for help if needed.”
