Brown University Student in Coma After “Catastrophic” Hiking Fall Overseas
Monday, April 10, 2023
A Brown University student is currently in a coma after suffering a “catastrophic” hiking fall overseas.
The family of John Owen Habib said he broke his spine and femurs in a fall in Morocco — and are trying to raise funds to bring him back to the U.S. for treatment.
Habib graduated from Portsmouth Abbey in Rhode Island.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHis brother Jordan Habib posted the following on the family’s GoFundMe page, which had raised over $200,000 as of Monday night:
"My brother turned 21 years old just last month on March 11th. On April 1st, he suffered a catastrophic fall while on a hike with friends in Morocco. Both his femurs, his spine, and his left ankle were all broken. He has since had several surgeries including a hemicraniectomy and repairs to his ankle and both legs.
Unfortunately, he has since been in a coma with limited blood circulating to his brain. The chances of survival are incredibly slim. We are doing our best to medically evacuate John Owen back to the United States, where we hope he would be treated at NYU Brooklyn Trauma Center.
Since we live in Michigan, our insurance will most likely not cover all the medical expenses. UPDATE: We discovered this morning (4/10) that Brown University is unable to cover this under their insurance. Transportation will need to be funded privately, hence the change in our fundraising goal. The funds would be used for the medical evacuation of John Owen from Morocco, potential treatment in the United States and all unexpected medical and logistical expenses."
Rhode Island Democratic Committeewoman Criticizes Brown
On Monday, RI Democratic Committeewoman Liz Perik called on Brown to cover the expenses with the following Tweet:
My son’s close friend and Brown University junior, John Owen Habib, suffered a catastrophic injury while hiking in Morocco. His only hope of survival is to be transported to NYU.
@BrownUniversity refused to pay for his transportation. @BrownUniversity use your $6.5B Endowment!
Brown University said it was unable to comment on Monday, citing health and privacy laws.
Brown Responds
On Monday night, Brown issued the following statement:
"First and foremost, we feel deeply for any family that has to confront personal tragedy. Brown is a caring community, and we offer support to those in need in many ways that we are not able to share publicly, as they are specific to individual personal circumstances. For any incident, while federal privacy law prevents the University from sharing health or financial information about specific students, we can share general information about how we’d work to support a student facing an urgent medical situation during personal travel.
Brown is a global research university home to more than 10,000 students, faculty and staff who come to campus from locations worldwide and frequently travel to destinations across the globe. The University’s ability to support the health and safety needs of students, faculty and staff who embark on personal travel unconnected to a Brown-organized program is significantly limited. We are able to provide extensive support to individuals on Brown travel, but the University’s insurance policies do not cover community members during their own personal travel and private activities. Likewise, when someone faces a health challenge on personal travel, we are constrained against providing the extensive support directly and through partner organizations in the way that we’d be able to for someone on Brown travel.
In extreme situations, to the greatest extent possible, leaders from Brown communicate with and suggest potential resources for students, faculty and staff in need of emergency assistance during personal travel. That assistance can come in various forms of financial support. It also can include supporting family members, making connections to external resources, or coordinating with friends and colleagues who remain on campus. We care deeply about all Brown community members and endeavor to assist in emergencies, even with the recognition that our policies do not regulate personal travel, and our ability to assist is therefore greatly limited."
This story was first published 4/10/23 9:51 PM
It was updated 4/11/23 11:07 AM
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