SCM NEWS & OPINIONS

Scott v. Wingate Wilderness Therapy, 2021 UT 28 (July 9, 2021)

In the context of an injury suffered during a wilderness therapy program, the supreme court held that an injury “relat[es] to or aris[es] out of” health care under the Utah Health Care Malpractice Act, Utah Code §§ 78B-3-401 et seq. if it “originate[s] from or [is] connected to something a health care provider did or should have done in the course of providing health care to th[e] patient.”  The court concluded that the claims against the wilderness therapy program were governed by the Act because the program provided “health care” in the form of wilderness therapy and the injured patient’s claims originated from his participation in that therapy.