OWYHEE COUNTY, Idaho — Nearly three weeks ago, the roof at Givens Hot Springs in Owyhee County collapsed and sent seven people to the hospital. One of those people was a 9-year-old boy.
“As you can imagine, this has been just an ordeal,” Patrick Mahoney, who represents the boy’s family said.
KTVB talked with the family’s attorney after the Caldwell family asked to not be identified.
“The family's young son was struck by a piece of falling structure that crushed the front of his foot,” Mahoney said.
He told KTVB, the family rushed the child to a hospital. An ambulance then took the boy to St. Luke’s Children's hospital in downtown Boise for an orthopedic procedure. The boy lost several of his middle toes, according to Mahoney.
“He's doing all right, he's got a road of physical therapy ahead,” Mahoney said. “There are questions as to the extent to which this might affect, what the doctors would call his gait, his walking, his balance, any phantom pain in the area that's healing that has to undergo the incision of the amputation points, there were also quite severe lacerations on the leg and on his back as well.”
He went on to tell KTVB, what happened at Givens Hot Springs has also taken a mental toll on the 9-year-old, who is now dealing with fears that the ceiling at his home could collapse. The boy is also having trouble sleeping and nightmares. Currently the family and their attorney are trying to work with the insurance company for Givens Hot Springs, Mahoney told KTVB on Wednesday.
“All I can say there is that we have reached out to the company and to their credit, the owners forwarded our communication to their insurance company, their insurance company did promptly, again, to their credit get back to us and indicated to us that they are simply gathering up the information, amalgamating the information on the various victims and will be in communication with everybody here on down the road,” Mahoney said.“Hopefully, they will continue to work with us, but you know, if they don't as happens in our system, there's a civil court system for recourse.”
KTVB spoke with the owners of the hot springs on January 9, they said they believe a combination of wind and rotten wood caused the collapse.
KTVB also reached out to the Givens on Wednesday to see if they had any comment on the latest developments, they referred us to their insurance company. KTVB reached out to the insurance company, but as of Wednesday night had not heard back.
Givens Hot Springs is currently closed. The owners told KTVB, they will update their social media when they decide to reopen.
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