Jury awards Nichelle Nichols' estate $13 million.
A Grant County jury found for the family of Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols in the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the Gila Regional Medical Center, which is located in Silver City, New Mexico. The jury deliberated for only a couple of hours on Thursday, June 4, before finding GRMC negligent for Nichols’ death.
Nichols’ estate was awarded a total of $13 million, according to the ABC television affiliate KOAT Action News in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Veteran KOAT reporter John Rupolo reached out to both the Gila Regional Medical Center and the hospital’s attorney, but neither replied to offer a response to the verdict.
The late Star Trek actress sadly passed away on July 30, 2022, from heart failure at the age of 89. Naturally, it was a devastating loss for Nichols’ son, Kyle, who need not have lost his mother if not for Gila Regional Medical Center’s alleged negligence, per the results of the wrongful death lawsuit yesterday. The attorney for the Nichols’ estate, Lisa Curtis, told KOAT back in September 2025: “They [GRMC] didn't do cardiac workup on her, and that was needed.”
“They put her in an observation unit, which is not where she needed to go,” Curtis continued. “She needed really to get transferred to Las Cruces, where they have cardiologists on staff and on call and the right equipment just to diagnose her and take care of her. Instead, they discharged her home, and she died seven hours later.”
For more information and to look over the lawsuit in its entirety, which was filed in July 2023, those interested can click the following link. Certainly, this is a victory for Nichelle Nichols’ family, but she continues to be sorely missed by millions of Trekkies around the world — and her kindness and contributions will never be forgotten.
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Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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