According to autopsy results, a 17-year old student in a “therapeutic board school” in Utah who complained about her health was found dead from sepsis. The school staff had ignored the student’s complaints.
Taylor Goodridge, a student at Diamond Ranch Academy, died in December 2022 from peritonitis (an infection of the abdominal tissue), followed by sepsis that caused her organs fail.
Alan W. Mortensen, attorney at Mortensen & Miline, told Fox News Digital that the condition is easily treatable with antibiotics. The first signs of peritonitis include vomiting and stomach pains. Taylor suffered from both for at least two and a half weeks before her death. She was not taken to hospital. She was not taken to the hospital.
Mortensen cited autopsy results from the Utah Medical Examiner to confirm that her infection spread eventually to her heart and liver.
Goodridge could call her parents every week at the “world-class residential therapy center and therapeutic board school” that bills itself as such, but the staff of the school allegedly denied her phone access when she fell ill.
Mortensen obtained records from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services that show Goodridge had vomited 14 times before her death. This included seven times in an 11-hour period.
Staff at the school with a monthly tuition of $12,000 per student allegedly told Goodridge that she was “faking” it and had to “suck it up.” The lawsuit claims that when the 17-year old student complained of “excruciating” pain, school staff told her to take “water and aspirin.”
Staff allegedly forced Goodridge out of bed on the day she died, forcing her to take a bath and visit the medical clinic at the school, where, according to her family’s lawyers, Goodridge’s death occurred.
Diamond Ranch Academy is still taking students, and promises to “make a long-term difference” in troubled teens’ lives. However, the Goodridge Family and others want the school closed down permanently.
In a statement released recently, Dean Goodridge, AmberLynn Wigtion and their daughter, Taylor, expressed their shock at learning that Taylor’s death could have been prevented if Diamond Ranch Academy had taken the time to care. “We’re also shocked that the Department of Health and Human Services of Utah hasn’t held Diamond Ranch Academy responsible for Taylor’s demise, and settled with Diamond Ranch Academy, without consulting our family.”
The statement continued, “We will continue to pursue every avenue to hold Diamond Ranch Academy responsible for her death in order to ensure that this doesn’t happen to any other innocent teens or their families.”
Mortensen also mentioned three separate incidents of alleged abuse in the school. The school could not be reached to comment.
The attorney stated that he “would never send” his child to this school.
According to Elle magazine, celebrities such as Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris Jackson who attended Diamond Ranch Academy and Paris Hilton who attended Provo Canyon School, Utah, where Paris Hilton claimed she was sexually assaulted, have called for the closure of the school.
Hilton tweeted after Goodridge died in December 2022, “It’s vital that institutions like Diamond Ranch Academy be held accountable.”
