Just before Christmas in 2013 Brady Folkens of Brookings died in state custody after a medical attendant likely administered a lethal dose of the antibiotic minocycline to the teen at the former State Treatment and Rehabilitation (STAR) Academy in a South Dakota county named for a war criminal.
But in a 2014 phone interview, Brady's mom, Dawn Van Ballegooyen told this blog he never had a previous acne condition that required an antibiotic and in 2016 Jonathan Ellis formerly of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader called out the State of South Dakota for covering up the truth in Brady's death.
After a public whimper petered out the death camp was shuttered and the sprawling property carved from the heart of Indian Country put up for auction. The stigmatized site was sold four times at sequentially reduced prices after the first buyer bounced a check to the state, the financing was unworkable or the scope of work proved too great.
Avera McKennan Hospital pathologist, Raed A. Sulaiman ruled Brady’s ultimately fatal lymphocytic myocarditis was caused by Parvovirus B19 despite clinical evidence that anaphylaxis often induces an infarct and Parvovirus can produce a rash that looks like acne.
Before he died, guardianship was also transferred back to her. And then the medical bills totaling up to $200,000 started coming in. She fought the debt collectors off, telling them to go directly to South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley’s office. The state ended up paying her son’s medical fees, but she was left with questions that she didn’t know how to find answers to. [Brady Folkens died a ward of the state. His mother seeks answers a decade later.]
- Ongoing Advocacy: Dawn Van Ballegooyen remains a central figure in South Dakota’s juvenile justice reform discussions. Her push for "Brady’s Law"—which would require parental notification for all medications prescribed to minors in state custody—continues to be a focal point for legislative advocacy in Pierre [1, 2].
- Medical Debate: The core dispute remains unchanged: the state maintains the parvovirus B19 (lymphocytic myocarditis) finding, while independent experts cited by the family point to Drug-Induced Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DIHS) or DRESS syndrome caused by minocycline [2, 3].
- Media Coverage: Recent retrospectives by local outlets like the Mitchell Republic and Sioux Falls Live have used Brady’s case to evaluate the effectiveness of the 2016 juvenile justice reforms and the subsequent closure of the STAR Academy [4, 5].
- Legal Standing: Following the withdrawal of her 2018 lawsuit, the legal path has remained difficult due to the complexities of suing state-contracted medical providers and the statutes of limitation, though the family continues to explore civil rights avenues [2, 6].