黑料社入口

A student with disabilities at Coastal Carolina University was left alone while seizing in a classroom for more than an hour on the first day of the spring semester, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

The lawsuit accuses defendants Coastal Carolina University, CoastalLIFE program and assistant director of the program Brian Keys of being negligent in abandoning CoastalLIFE program participant Jeshua Matzdorff while he was in the preliminary stages of a grand mal seizure.

CoastalLIFE, a program CCU operates, is designed to give students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities an opportunity to exercise independence as college students. LIFE is an acronym for 鈥渓earning is for everyone.鈥�

The lawsuit said defendants鈥� failure to uphold safeguards for the program participants through inadequate hiring standards, inadequate training of CoastalLIFE staff and failure to communicate specific needs of the individuals within the program resulted in permanent injury of Matzdorff.

Mattzdorf鈥檚 mother Carrie Cairns and his stepfather Mark Scott Cairns are additional plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They are seeking damages for the incurred and ongoing medical expenses due to incident, wages lost while caring for Mattzdorf following the incident and extreme mental anguish and emotional distress due to the injuries suffered by Mattzdorf.

The suit states Matzdorff 鈥渟uffered extreme and painful injuries,鈥� and may have permanent adverse effects and disability. He will continue to require medical treatment in the future due to the extended period of time he seized without care. He has experienced loss of enjoyment in life from being abandoned by his instructor in addition to having to withdraw from CCU, the suit states.

鈥淣ow he鈥檚 back home, it鈥檚 been very difficult,鈥� his mother said. 鈥淗e did have a certain amount of freedom on campus. He did feel like he was, you know, like everybody else and being able to do what he wanted to do. And now he鈥檚 back living at home.鈥�

On the first day of the 2025 spring semester, Mattzdorf attended class at 3 p.m. with Keys as the instructor after paying a visit to his mother, who at the time worked at the Early Childhood Development and Literacy Center, his mother said.

Matzdorff began experiencing seizure symptoms toward the end of class, at which point he was unable to communicate, but the instructor nor any peers noticed the oncoming seizure symptoms, his mother and the lawsuit claim. He was left alone in the classroom for over an hour before other students came into the classroom for another meeting, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said Carrie Cairns disclosed with all CoastalLIFE staff information and materials, including a medical information form, a personal history form and a custom 鈥淪eizures Signs and Procedure鈥� form that gave specific instructions, warnings and guidance regarding Matzdorff's medical condition and how it should be treated.

鈥淚 had typed up this whole page of what to look for, what are the signs of him having a seizure, where the meds are located in his backpack, and I have medical power of attorney,鈥� Carrie Cairns said. 鈥淪o, I wrote on there, permission to give him the medication if you think he鈥檚 going to have a seizure. I said, 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 hurt him by giving it to him, but if you don鈥檛 give it to him, then his oxygen levels will drop and it鈥檚 not good so it鈥檚 better to be safe than sorry.鈥� Everyone in that program from the top down had that paper.鈥�

In addition to the medical evaluation conducted prior to Matzdorff鈥檚 acceptance into the program, the lawsuit states his medical issues were also explained in detail in an email dated Sept. 3, 2024, to Keys and director of CCU鈥檚 CoastalLIFE program Dr. Cheryl Morgan.

Coastal Carolina University said it does not comment on pending litigation. However, before the lawsuit was filed, the university told MyHorry黑料社入口 that instructors and professors are informed when a CoastalLIFE student is auditing their class. If any student has an approved accommodation through Accessibility and Disability Services, the student may notify their professors and instructors of those academic accommodations, the university said in an email.

鈥淪pecific disabilities and medical conditions of CoastalLIFE students are generally not disclosed to others by the CoastalLIFE staff, absent authorization and in the professional discretion of the CoastalLIFE staff,鈥� the email states.

CCU also said there is no university policy that states professors or instructors must ensure that a classroom is empty and clear before leaving that classroom at the conclusion of a class.

鈥淪tudents are able to use an open classroom that does not have an ongoing class or meeting to study, socialize, or otherwise utilize,鈥� a statement from CCU reads.

On the day of the incident, Carrie Cairns said she expected the usual post-class debrief from Matzdorff around 4 p.m.

鈥淗e usually is very excited to tell me, especially the first day, he was so excited when he stopped by my classroom,鈥� Cairns said.

She said she became worried around 5 p.m., when his phone鈥檚 location remained at the Prince Building, but she considered he may have lingered to talk with friends.

The suit said a method used in the CoastalLIFE program to monitor the participants is a whiteboard that the students use to disclose their whereabouts and the time they plan to return to the dorm.

The lawsuit claims Matzdorff wrote 4:30 p.m. on the whiteboard as the time he was meant to return, and no staff followed through on his whereabouts on the day of the incident.

According to the lawsuit and a police report from Jan. 13, 2025, a group of students walked into the classroom around 5 p.m. for a meeting and recognized Matzdorff as a CoastalLIFE student and "told Jeshua it was ok for him to remain in the room while they had their meeting." The police report states Matzdorff began vomiting during the meeting and the complainant called DPS and then EMS was notified upon the officer鈥檚 arrival. The lawsuit states EMS was notified around 5:50 p.m.

Around 6 p.m., Carrie Cairns said she received a call from a CoastalLIFE representative informing her Matzdorff was en route to the Conway Medical Center. She arrived at the hospital around the same time as her son.

鈥淗e had bit his tongue. He was bleeding out of his mouth. He could鈥檝e aspirated on his blood or his vomit,鈥� Carrie Cairns said.

She said it takes days for him to recover from a major seizure and she thought the CoastalLIFE staff would have expressed more concern for her son's wellbeing, extended condolences for the mishandling of his care, or said anything to rectify the incident. But, she said, they were met with crickets.

鈥淲e were talking one night, and he looked over at me and he鈥檚 just like, tears streaming down his face and I said, 鈥楤uddy, what鈥檚 wrong?鈥� He said, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know why they would leave me.鈥� He said, 鈥楳om, I couldn鈥檛 say anything, I couldn鈥檛 talk鈥� and he said 鈥榓nd they just left me in the room.鈥� And I said, 鈥楬oney, I don鈥檛 know,鈥欌�� Carrie Cairns said.

The lawsuit states plaintiffs seek 鈥渁ctual, special, consequential and punitive damages鈥� and 鈥渁 permanent injunction requiring the defendants to implement future safeguards into the CoastalLIFE Program to benefit students similarly situated鈥� to Matzdorff.

Defendants have 30 days to answer the lawsuit, which was filed in Horry County on April 21.