A Wyoming Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday kicked a lawsuit against a Cheyenne hospital over a little girl’s death back down to a lower court.
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center had asked the high court to dismiss a motion its lawyers had filed seeking immunity against a lawsuit the family of a 7-year-old girl had filed against the hospital.
Amilya Young, 7, died in 2021 after she was misdiagnosed and discharged from the emergency room despite having symptoms of tracheitis, an inflammation and infection of the windpipe that can be life-threatening in children, the lawsuit alleges.
Amilya died the next morning, prompting her family to file a lawsuit against the hospital.
While the hospital asserts that Amilya didn’t receive negligent care, CRMC’s main argument claims Cheyenne Regional cannot be held liable for the girl’s death because the nurses and physician assistant who examined her were contractors.
The hospital is basing its argument on the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, which governs claims against public entities and affords public institutions legal protections. The hospital had asked the courts for total immunity, which was denied, and the hospital appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
In recent months, the hospital asked for that appeal to be dismissed as its legal strategy had shifted, and the justices granted that motion Thursday. While that technical issue was before the High Court, the lawsuit had been on pause in district court.
Now the lawsuit can continue to be heard in the trial court. It’s not yet known when a district court judge will schedule hearings or a trial.
Sean T. Olson, the Cheyenne-based attorney for the Young family, said he expects that the case will go before the Supreme Court again.
“I would anticipate that should we take this all the way through a jury trial verdict, and Cheyenne Regional Medical Center loses the case as we anticipate they will, I would suspect that they will appeal this,” Olson said. "So I think the same issue is going to be in front of the Supreme Court.”
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon before publication.
Justin George can be reached at justin@cowboystatedaily.com.
