ALAMOSA — A civil case related to former Nurse Practitioner Debra Rice’s alleged over-prescription of opioids has been resolved short of trial.

The family of Derek Vigil, a patient of Rice’s who died, had filed a civil complaint against Rice for allegedly contributing to his death. Represented by Alamosa attorney Keith Vance, Amanda Vigil, the mother of Vigil’s daughter, claimed medical negligence resulting in Vigil’s 2016 death.

Rice, 62, is also charged with 50 criminal counts related to her medical practice as a nurse practitioner, specifically in prescribing medications during 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. The majority of the counts against her are felony distribution of a controlled substance.

The State Board of Nursing suspended Rice’s professional nursing license in March of 2017 after investigating the number of prescriptions she was issuing and the deaths of three patients related to drug intoxication. Vigil was one of those patients.

Represented by attorney Mary Byrne Fletcher (Messner Reeves LLP, Denver), Rice denied any negligence in connection to Vigil’s care and treatment or his death.

A trial had been set in the civil case for August 5. That trial was vacated in March when the civil case against Rice was resolved. The case was dismissed with prejudice (cannot be re-filed) as part of a stipulation resolving the claims for relief, which were not specified.