Mother of Wyoming Student Wrestler Sues Hospital
The mother of a 16-year-old boy who was paralyzed after breaking two vertebrae during high school wrestling practice filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Wyoming hospital that treated him.
The suit from Melissa Plumley alleges Cheyenne Regional Medical Center didn’t monitor Isaac Salas properly and discharged him despite difficulty breathing. The lawsuit filed in late December 2013 seeks undisclosed damages for Salas’ death, and for medical and funeral expenses. Hospital officials declined to discuss the case.
Salas was at wrestling practice in 2010 at Cheyenne South High School when he broke two vertebrae in his neck, leaving him paralyzed.
The suit says he was taken to the hospital in 2011 due to problems with his catheter, and that pain medication he was given while hospitalized made it harder for him to breathe because his paralysis reduced his respiratory strength. The suit also claims hospital staff did not update Salas’ information chart with his heart rate and breathing rate, and that he was released without being examined by his doctor despite symptoms of having a low oxygen level.
Salas stopped breathing hours later and was pronounced dead, according to the suit, which also names the medical center’s board, and the doctor assigned to Salas.
