Family files notice against teen treatment center in Mapleton following boy’s death

Kathryn and Joshua Silvers allege gross negligence, medical malpractice led to their son's death at Discovery Ranch

The family of a boy who died at a teen residential treatment center in Mapleton is filing a notice of intent and notice of claim against the facility and others as a prelude to a possible malpractice claim.

Kathryn and Joshua Silvers are alleging in the notice that gross negligence, medical malpractice and systemic failures at Discovery Ranch Academy led to the death of their son, Biruk Silvers, on Nov. 5, according to a release from their attorney.

Kathryn Silvers addressed the allegations in a statement from the family during a virtual meeting Monday morning.

“In our efforts to get (Biruk) the help he needed, we placed him at Discovery Ranch Academy, believing their promises to us and at great expense to our family. We were assured we would be partners in his care and kept informed at every step of the way, but they broke that promise,” she said. “They kept us in the dark about the very things we needed to know to protect our son. On Nov. 5, 2024, a parent’s worst nightmare came true. Our son Biruk died (of) asphyxiation while in the care of Discovery Ranch Academy. And now, almost two weeks later, we know this is not an inevitable tragedy, it was a preventable one.”

The Silverses alleged several missteps by the treatment center they believe resulted in Biruk’s death.

According to Kathryn Silvers, after her son started a new medication in October that had a “clear black-box warning for an increased risk of suicidal thought and behaviors,” the center’s staff learned about his detailed plan to “harm himself and end his own life.” However, she claims the family was never informed of the situation.

“You might expect that when staff and medical professionals hear news like this, parents of children in their care will be immediately called and notified. For us, that call never came,” she said. “Our son needed help and he was forced to suffer alone while we, his family, were left in the dark and deprived of an opportunity to do anything in our power to help Biruk when he needed us the most. They knew of his plans to hurt himself for two weeks. They never informed us, which prevented us from getting him the appropriate care.”

In addition, the Silverses accused Discovery Ranch’s staff of allowing Burik to participate in a dangerous asphyxiation game called “Space Monkeys,” despite the family’s wishes.

“Staff dismissed our concern as unimportant and irrelevant to the apparent mental health challenges he faced and detailed plan to end his life that was known to them,” Kathryn Silvers said, adding that Biruk’s treatment plan left him “unsupervised and overall worsened his mental health.”

“His cries for help, including the known suicidal ideation and plans, were ignored,” she said. “His medication was mishandled, and all of our concerns about our son’s activity and state of mind were dismissed and ignored. Critical emotional support was withheld and clear signs of a child in crisis were ignored. His struggle became invisible to the very people we trusted to care for him. In what might be the most egregious act of negligence by the Discovery Ranch Academy, our son had access to a belt, to keep his pants up, after knowing of his plan to end his life, which included asphyxiation.”

In response to the allegations, the Daily Herald reached out to Clinton Dorny, the executive director of Discovery Ranch. He emailed a statement addressing the incident Monday afternoon.

“A 17-year-old male student committed suicide at Discovery Ranch on the afternoon of November 5th,” the statement read. “We are deeply saddened by the loss, and we grieve with the family. We are supporting our students and our staff including offering therapy, having extra therapists on site, and calling in extra staff to be with the students. We thank the emergency responders for their quick response and their professionalism. We are thoroughly investigating the incident internally, and have been fully cooperative with the authorities and their ongoing investigation.”

Dorny referred further questions to Randy Spencer, the attorney representing the teen center.

Spencer told the Daily Herald, “It’s our policy not to comment on cases that are in active litigation. We certainly want to allow the legal process to play out without pleading the case in the media.”

Kathryn and Joshua Silvers are filing notice against defendants Dorny, Nate Walker, Megan Frost, William Perry Garso and Ann Bayles, each of whom are staff members at Discovery Ranch. In addition, the University of Utah’s Dr. Jonathan Birnkrant, the University of Utah and Redcliff Ascent, a wilderness therapy program, also received notice.

According to a release from Alan Mortensen, the attorney representing the Silvers family, the family is choosing to speak out to raise awareness about the alleged systemic failures they say contributed to their son’s death and to advocate for accountability and reform in the troubled teen industry.

“The lack of real regulation and the lack of evidence-based health care and mental health care has led to this and several other tragic incidents,” Mortensen said.

Utah’s youth treatment system has received heightened scrutiny in recent years, due in large part to public protesting by celebrity heiress Paris Hilton in 2020 and 2021 related to her alleged experiences at Provo Canyon School. Those efforts resulted in new state legislation that outlawed various practices and allotted money toward the hiring of additional oversight staff within the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.