Soap star Hunter Tylo is continuing with her malpractice suit against the therapist who was treating her 19-year-old son, Michael Tylo II, who drowned last year at the family home. A judge in the case ruled against Tylo’s move to include her deceased son as a party in the legal action on Friday. Young Michael drowned last October in the family pool while his parent and siblings were out for the day. An autopsy revealed that the teen had a seizure near the pool, fell in and drowned.

A Las Vegas judge has dismissed a portion of a lawsuit filed by actress Hunter Tylo against a therapist who was counseling her 19-year-old son, Michael Tylo II, prior to his drowning last October.

The Bold and the Beautiful star filed the suit in the form of a Jan. 24 amendment to an April 2006 malpractice lawsuit filed against Henderson, Nev., therapist Shanna Downing, who was working with several members of the Tylo family in 2004 and 2005.

Downing countered the wrongful death lawsuit with a motion to exclude Michael Tylo II as a party in the legal action, and Tylo was required to respond to Downing’s motion by Feb. 11, but she missed the filing deadline.

“To date, no opposition has been filed,” court papers state.

While the judge agreed to dismiss Michael Tylo II as a party in the wrongful death action, his estate remains a party in the earlier malpractice lawsuit, set for trial in the fall.

Downing’s attorney, Michael Shannon, had no comment. Tylo attorney Patricia Vaccarino was unavailable for comment.

[From People]

In the malpractice suit, Hunter states that her son had a seizure disorder which his therapist, Shanna Downing, failed to diagnose properly and treat. Hunter Tylo says in her filing that her son’s seizures should have been treated with medication, and that if Downing had been doing her job, Michael would be alive today. The actress plans on continuing the suit in her name instead of her son’s.

According to court papers filed by Downing, she counseled Michael II because he was having “conflicts” with his parents, who were going through a divorce. Downing claimed that the seizures were brought on by stress and could be cured with acupuncture and behavioral therapy.

It’s hard to say which side will prevail here- but either way, it must be very difficult for the family.

Picture Note by Celebitchy: Hunter Tylo is shown at the Daytime Emmy Awards on 6/15/07, thanks to PRPhotos. Yes she has had a lot of work done, not all of it enhancing her appearance, but this is about her son’s tragic death. Keep that in mind in the comments.

Last Friday, we reported on the death of “The Bold and the Beautiful” actress Hunter Tylo’s son Michael. He was 19 years old, and appeared to have died after falling into the family’s pool in Henderson, Nevada. Apparently Michael suffered from occasional seizures when he didn’t get enough sleep, and he had been suffering from a bout of insomnia. It appears that he fell into the pool while having a seizure and drowned.

“Actress Hunter Tylo has spent years acting out dramas on soap operas like “Days of our Lives” and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” but nothing could prepare the 45-year-old mother for the tragedy that befell her family on October 18. That day, while she was in Los Angeles, her son Michael Jr. drowned in the backyard pool of her Henderson, Nevada, residence. The 19-year-old was in town to visit his girlfriend, Stephanie Rivero and take one last high school exam. But by 11:55 that night, Michael was pronounced dead after his fully clothed body was found in the backyard swimming pool. Cause of death: accidental drowning following a seizure.

“The last time I heard his voice was Thursday [October 18] around 6 a.m.,” Rivero, 17, tells Us. “I was going to come over, but he told me he was tossing and turning all night. He couldn’t sleep, and when he doesn’t sleep, he gets seizures. I told him I’d call him in an hour. He said, ‘I love you.’ And I said, ‘I love you too.” But Rivero never reached Michael again. At around 8 p.m., his half-brother Christopher, 26, found Michael’s body in the pool. “It was an accident,” a rep for the Clark County, Nevada, coroner’s office tells Us. Rivero remembers Michael’s sense of humor most of all. “He was full of life and so funny. He didn’t even have to try. He just was.”

[From Us Weekly]

This is such a heartbreaking story. When you think about the odds of something like this happening, it seems extra shocking. Hunter Tylo has been through a lot of drama in her life, including a daughter who suffered from retinoblastoma and eventually had to have her eye removed. Losing a child must be the most indescribable pain. Let’s hope they’re all doing the best they can.

Hunter Tylo, 45, the cosmetically over-enhanced actress who is one of the stars of “The Bold and the Beautiful” and was a cast member (though she never filmed any scenes) of “Melrose Place” - lost her son yesterday. Michael Tylo Jr. was 19, and drowned in a pool in the evening.

The Clark County [Nevada] Coroner tells TMZ 19-year-old Michael Tylo, Jr. drowned and was pronounced dead at 11:55 PM last night. Michael went by the nickname Mickey. The police were initially called to the house at 10:18 PM to respond to a report of a deceased male in a pool. We’re told the matter is currently under investigation and that toxicology reports have been requested.

Hunter has endured much tragedy in her life, as her youngest daughter Katya was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, and was forced to have her eye removed and replaced by a glass eye.

Hunter was also involved in a very high profile lawsuit against Aaron Spelling, after she was fired from “Melrose Place” for being pregnant (with daughter Izabella). She won a nearly $5 million judgment from the producer.

A rep for “Bold and the Beautiful,” on which Hunter has been a cast member on and off for 16 years, would not comment.

[From TMZ]

That’s incredibly sad. Hunter has had a lot of misfortune in her life. Wikipedia noted that, “Due to her time on The Bold and the Beautiful, Tylo splits her time between her family home in Nevada and Los Angeles, California, where the show is taped four days a week.” So thought the article didn’t specifically say Michael drowned in his own home, I think that’s likely what happened. We’ll update the story as more information comes out.