Patient Hits Her Head After Stretcher Tips Over

The Plaintiff, 71, was suffering from end-stage renal disease. The Defendant, an ambulance company, was transporting her on a stretcher from her dialysis center to an ambulance so she could be driven home. As she was being wheeled through the parking lot to the ambulance, one of the wheels of the stretcher became lodged in a large hole in the parking lot. This caused the stretcher to tip over, which caused the Plaintiff to fall and strike her head on the pavement resulting in her death three days later. Since she was completely secured to the stretcher, she had no ability to brace herself for the fall.

The Plaintiff alleged that the ambulance company’s employees were negligent in that they failed to keep a proper lookout of a parking lot which was in obvious disrepair. The Plaintiff also claimed that the property owner was negligent as they failed in their duty to maintain the parking lot in a reasonably safe condition.

The ambulance company claimed its employees took all steps necessary considering the condition of the parking lot, and the property owner claimed the defects were minimal but open and obvious to the ambulance personnel.

The case was mediated and settled for $750,000 based upon the Plaintiff’s age and minimal life expectancy prior to this incident.

Intersection Collision

The Plaintiff, 54, was operating his motor vehicle through an intersection when the Defendant failed to stop for a blinking red light and crashed into the Plaintiff’s vehicle, forcing him off the road and into a fire hydrant, electrical box, streetlight, and telephone pole.

The Plaintiff was med-flighted to a Boston hospital and was diagnosed with a right hip dislocation and fractured right hip socket. The Plaintiff underwent surgery the next day and remained in the hospital for several days. He was confined to his home for several months while undergoing home physical therapy and then was released to outpatient physical therapy.

The case was mediated and settled for $285,000.

Pedestrian Hit By Car

The Plaintiff was walking on the sidewalk of a strip mall when a motor vehicle being operated by an 88-year-old jumped a two-inch curb onto the sidewalk and struck and pushed the Plaintiff through a storefront window. The Plaintiff sustained significant injuries including two broken legs, a broken right ankle, severe scalp laceration, two broken ribs, and a punctured and collapsed lung.

The Plaintiff brought suit against the strip mall owner and alleged that they failed to follow safety regulations and standards regarding curb heights, wheel stops, bumper guards, or other devices to protect pedestrians on the sidewalk. At the time of the incident the Defendant’s parking lot was covered by two inches of hard packed snow, which provided no barrier between the parking lot and sidewalk.

According to the Plaintiff’s expert, the industry standard and local zoning codes suggested a minimum of a six-inch curb, which he opined would have been sufficient to prevent this incident. Had the case proceeded to trial the Plaintiff would have introduced evidence of a nearly identical incident within close proximity to this one.

The case settled prior to trial for $950,000.