A Utah teen died after a boarding school she attended ignored her complaints of “extreme pain,” according to a lawsuit filed by her family. School officials thought she was “faking” her illness for weeks.
Taylor Goodridge, 17, died on December 20 after collapsing inside the Diamond Ranch Academy in Hurricane, Utah, from what her family believes was sepsis from an untreated illness.
In late December, Taylor’s father, Dean Goodridge, filed suit against the school, which has since been put on probation by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
Dean claims that staff advised the 17-year-old to “suck it up” and suggested that she was making up her abdominal pain by drinking water and taking aspirin, causing her to briefly fall into her own vomit one time.
According to its website, Diamond Ranch Academy is a “therapeutic boarding school” that assists teenagers with a range of problems, including severe depressive disorder and problems with anger control.
The teenager’s official cause of death has not yet been determined or disclosed. Taylor was declared dead by the EMS personnel when they arrived.
The girl’s father claims in the lawsuit that she complained to the staff about acute abdomen pain for weeks starting in November. Dean also complains that in response, the school and its employees asserted that she was faking her illness despite the fact that she briefly lost consciousness just before she tragically died.
“They allowed a child to suffer needlessly for nearly two weeks when she could have been saved,” Taylor’s father, Dean Goodridge, said.
The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Diamond Ranch Academy for their negligence in handling the situation. The lawsuit claims that the school did not take reasonable measures to prevent Taylor’s death despite her “long-term suffering from stomach pain and other symptoms.”
The girl’s illness was not treated or taken seriously by the school, according to the lawsuit which was brought by Alan Mortensen who represents Dean. According to her father, Taylor was in “very good health” when she checked into the institution.
“Here is that this young teenager is sent down to Utah from the state of Washington to try and help her get her life back in order,” said Mortensen. “And before they know it, she’s died from what we believe will ultimately prove out to be sepsis. And with no explanation,” the lawyer told Fox News.
In the weeks preceding her death, Taylor reportedly complained about her agony and implored officials for assistance, according to her father’s lawsuit. School staff ignored Taylor despite the fact that she had fainted in her own vomit and that her abdomen was “extremely distended so that it was noticeable to others.”
She eventually died from sepsis.
According to AWM, the Goodridge family has set up a memorial foundation in the name of their daughter to provide support for other families who have experienced similar tragedies and are seeking justice.
They hope that something positive will come out of this tragedy and that Taylor’s death can help prevent future cases of wrongful death due to the infection. However, her official cause of death has not yet been announced.
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