Ex-staff break silence after 17-year-old Taylor Goodridge dies at boarding school as ‘officials ignored her crippling pain’

FORMER workers at a boarding school where a teenager died speak out after allegations administrators failed to take their “extreme pain” seriously.

Taylor Goodridge, 17, was attending Diamond Ranch Academy in Hurricane, Utah when she died December 20.

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The former workers claim that their medical complaints were allegedly ignored for months.

Investigators have not released an official cause of death, but the teenager’s family believes she suffered from sepsis, a life-threatening condition that can result from the body’s response to infection.

Five former employees claimed to NBC News that Taylor had been ill several times in the three months before her death – but was never taken off campus for treatment.

Tianamarie Govan, who supervised the school’s students at night until she was fired in October, claimed staff did nothing about Taylor’s vomiting and complaints of severe stomach and back pain.

“There were nights when she would throw up and the staff wouldn’t bother to do anything,” she claimed.

“Sometimes I had to stay in her room to make sure she was okay.

“She had a really high fever one night, but that [supervisory] The staff refused to let me use a thermometer to check,” the former worker claimed.

Another unnamed staffer, who said she left the school in December, claimed Taylor was throwing up several times a day and at one point was so ill that she was unable to go to the school’s infirmary.

“We would have to carry their arms to get there,” they claimed.

“They didn’t do much for her other than give her Gatorade powder.”

Seven former employees said they were warned that children who complained about illness often did so to get away from homework, get attention, or convince their parents to take them home, according to NBC News.

They also claimed that only medical personnel could recommend taking a child to the hospital.

Students’ communication with their parents is strictly controlled at school, workers claimed.

“They’re trapped when they have a medical problem,” Goodridge family attorney Alan Mortensen claimed.

“It’s not like if they don’t agree with what the staff is telling them they can just walk out the door and go to the doctor or even call their parents to have them take them to the doctor.

“That’s entirely at the discretion of the school.”

Taylor’s father, Dean Goodridge, has filed a lawsuit against Diamond Ranch.

He claims administrators told his daughter to “suck up” and take aspirin – even though she had severe abdominal distension and once collapsed into a pile of her own vomit.

A Diamond Ranch attorney said the facility has “significant disagreements over many aspects” of the lawsuit and allegations made by former employees.

School attorney Bill Frazier called many of the claims made by former workers and those in the family lawsuit “proven to be false.”

The attorney added that they could not respond in detail due to the federal privacy law regarding education and medical records.

“One thing we agree on is a tragic circumstance,” Frazier said.

“Any time a 17-year-old dies, it’s horrific and we’re devastated.”

He added: “DRA will continue to work fully and transparently with all appropriate authorities.

“DRA looks forward to presenting the facts in court.”

The school remains open, but the Utah Department of Health and Human Services has placed her license on “conditional status.”