A Patagonia woman has sued the organizers of a sweat-lodge ceremony that turned deadly earlier this month near Sedona.
Sidney D. Spencer, 59, was among more than 50 people inside the sweat lodge Oct. 8 at the Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat Center, when she became ill.
Three people died and at least 18 others — including Spencer — were hospitalized, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in Coconino County Superior Court.
The suit, filed by Tucson attorney Ted Schmidt, names motivational speaker and author James Arthur Ray, who led the ceremony, and Angel Valley owners Amayra and Michael Hamilton as defendants.
"The bottom line is, this is a bizarre tragedy that could have been prevented if Ray and his staff had at least one ounce of common sense," Schmidt said in an interview Friday.
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Spencer was flown to a hospital in Flagstaff where she stayed for several days, the lawsuit states. She suffered major organ failure and scorched lungs, was in respiratory arrest and spent at least two hours in a coma, Schmidt said.
"When she eventually regained consciousness, she was spitting up blood," Schmidt said of Spencer, who is now recuperating in Tucson with her daughter.
Spencer lives outside Patagonia, where she operates a cattle ranch, Schmidt said.
The suit claims Spencer and other participants were deprived of food and water in the three days before the sweat-lodge ceremony, which was part of a five-day "Spiritual Warrior" program Ray had performed throughout the country.
"He manipulated and coerced these people into a death trap," Schmidt said of Ray. "His ego drove him to build and to conduct the sweat lodge to end all sweat lodges. Sadly, he succeeded in that."
Spencer is seeking reimbursement of the more than $9,000 she paid to attend the program, as well other unspecified damages, the lawsuit said.
Her suit was one of two that were to have been filed Friday, Schmidt said. The other was on behalf of the family of Liz Neuman, a Minnesota woman who died after the ceremony.
Calls made by the Star to Ray and Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat Center were not returned.
