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Parents Sue Frat for Daughter's Death

The family of a girl who died after a night of binge drinking sue her boyfriend, his fraternity and the bar were she was served up to 17 vodka drinks.

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Megan Helal was just 19.
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By Fionna Agomuoh

03/21/12

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The parents of an underage college student are suing her boyfriend and his fraternity after a night of heavy drinking allegedly resulted in her death. Megan Helal, a 19-year old Navarro College student, was attending a party at Mynar's Bar in West, Texas, with her boyfriend and his Baylor University fraternity; Sigma Chi was celebrating some newly inducted members. Later, Helal was found on the floor of her boyfriend’s apartment—she was pronounced dead soon after arriving at the hospital. Helal’s parents claim negligence in their lawsuit against her boyfriend and his fraternity—and also against the bartenders and bar owners for serving alcohol to an underage person. Megan was allegedly served between 10 and 17 vodka drinks in a two-hour span. "They didn't know who the liquor was being served to," says the family’s attorney. "In addition, they allowed the fraternity to set up bottle service in a little room where the drinking was going on." An autopsy reportedly concluded that her death was caused by a cardiac arrhythmia because of myocardial fibrosis of undermined origin, rather than alcohol consumption directly. But her parents are still moving forward with the suit, saying they don’t want to see this happen to another family.

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