The story of 34-year-old Michael Morse, who died at EDC over the weekend, hits close to home. It’s always a tragedy when someone dies at a music festival, whether due to their own inexperience or someone else’s negligence, the common thought is that it’s always avoidable.
Morse’s family is now asking why he wasn’t taken to a hospital. Over the course of the weekend, there were over 1,000 medical calls at the festival, of which at least six were transported to local hospitals. Morse began to convulse at 3:25am and was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 7:41am at the speedway. What happened in those four hours that he wasn’t transported to a medical facility?
“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?” said Morse’s wife, Jennifer Marshall, late Wednesday. “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,” she said.
Insomniac released a statement on Tuesday following news of Morse’s passing.
“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.
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.”
We’ve reached out to Insomniac for a statement regarding Ms. Marshall’s concerns.
via LA Times | Photo via Ivan Meneses for Insomniac