A wrongful death lawsuit against Cheyenne Regional Medical Center over the death of a 16-year-old Cheyenne resident several years ago is underway in Laramie County District Court.

A urologist who treated the boy, Dr. B. Douglas Harris, is also named in the suit.

Isaac Salas, at the time a South High School student, broke two vertebrae in his back at wrestling practice in 2010 and was paralyzed as a result. In 2011 he was admitted to the CRMC emergency department because of problems with a catheter.

He had surgery the next day, was released and later died. Salas' mother, Melissa Plumley, argues in her suit that pain medicine that was given to her son killed him by causing fluid buildup in his lungs, essentially causing him to drown. It also claims he shouldn't have been released because he was having a hard time breathing.

But CRMC lawyers say that just isn't true, arguing Salas was in poor health and was treated properly by doctors and nurses but died anyway. A lawyer for Harris says the boy didn't die from the fluid in his lungs but from cardiac arrest.

The defense argues a long trip in a van as the family was running errands likely contributed to his death.

The trial is expected to run for about two weeks. Plumley's lawyers haven't asked for a specific dollar amount.

The case is being heard in the court of District Judge Steven K. Sharpe.

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