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Seventh Victim Of Indiana Stage Collapse Dies; Families Try To Cope

Aug. 13, 2011: A stage collapses at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. Seven people have died from the injuries they received.
Joey Foley
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Aug. 13, 2011: A stage collapses at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. Seven people have died from the injuries they received.

"The families of those who were seriously hurt when the Indiana State Fair Grandstand stage rigging collapsed" on Aug. 13, are struggling with "a mix of hoping and coping," The Indianapolis Star writes this morning.

And now there's this news: A seventh person has died. The Star says that "Meagan Toothman, 24, ... died Monday after her family arranged to donate her organs. ... Toothman, a cheerleading coach from the Cincinnati area, had been in a coma at Methodist Hospital since the accident."

The newspaper adds that "although no specific total is now available, it's believed that as many as a dozen people remain hospitalized in Indianapolis and elsewhere. That's a dozen families dealing with such disparate issues as making hotel arrangements so they can stay close to their loved ones and pondering fundraisers to ensure medical bills are covered."

The Star profiles Toothman here. And it says victims have started filing lawsuits.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.