HOUSTON – A Harris County couple is suing a local museum after their young daughter allegedly sustained multiple burn injuries during its summer day camp program.
Richard and Sophia Ou initiated legal action against the John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science, doing business as The Health Museum, on Oct. 8 in the Harris County 152nd District Court.
The Ous’ 14-page lawsuit claims that the girl, identified by her initials E.O., was participant in “a poorly planned and negligently executed” class demonstration involving an open flame last June 28 when the experiment went “awry,” causing the child to suffer burns to her hand, leg, neck, head, cheek, eyebrows, eyelashes, eyelids, ears, lips, and nose.”
According to the original petition, the teacher conducting the lesson was not appropriately trained and failed to keep the students back a safe distance.
E.O. was transported to the emergency room at the nearby Memorial Hermann Trauma Hospital in the Texas Medical Center following the incident and reportedly remains under the care of physicians, as well as a trauma therapist.
Joining The Health Museum as co-defendants are its Director of Education, LaTanya Kaye Miles, and Kennethia Patrice Rideaux, its Senior Program Manager for Camps.
Consequently, the plaintiffs seek unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
They are represented by The Ferrell Law Firm, P.C. and The Crowder Law Firm, both in Houston.
Harris County 152nd District Court Case No. 2018-72143