Woman ejected from stretcher, sustains fatal head wound

On May 18, 2005, a 71-year-old woman with end-stage renal disease was being transported by an ambulance company from her dialysis center to her home.

As the ambulance employees were wheeling her on a stretcher through the parking lot, the wheels of the stretcher became stuck in a large rut in the pavement. The stretcher tipped over to the ground, causing the patient to fall and strike her head on the pavement.

The patient was secured with every available strap on the stretcher, including the shoulder straps, and was unable to protect herself from the fall. As a result of the incident, the patient sustained severe head injuries. She died three days later.

The decedent’s daughter and administratrix of her estate claimed that her mother’s injuries and death were caused by the negligence of the ambulance employees, who failed to avoid the obvious rut in the parking lot and prevent her from falling, and the negligent repair and maintenance of the parking lot by the owners and managers of the building.

The daughter claimed that despite their knowledge of the disrepair in the parking lot, both EMTs failed to maintain a proper lookout and navigate the conditions appropriately. She alleged that the property owners failed in their duty to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition.

During discovery, the plaintiff found that a quality improvement manager from the ambulance company had written a report and determined that the accident was caused by both the inattention of the ambulance personnel and the poorly designed and unsatisfactorily maintained parking lot.

The ambulance company maintained that its employees did all they could to avoid the incident in light of the condition of the parking lot. The property owners claimed that the cracks in the pavement were not substantial but nevertheless should have been obvious to the ambulance personnel.

The defendants jointly retained an expert nephrologist, who opined that the decedent’s life expectancy was extremely short, and that had the accident not occurred, her quality of life would have remained severely limited, as it had been for a number of years prior to the accident.

The parties reached a settlement of $750,000.

Type of action: Negligence & tort

Injuries alleged: Head trauma and subdural hematoma causing death

Date: August 2009

Submitted by: Neil Sugarman and Benjamin R. Zimmermann, Sugarman & Sugarman, Boston (for the plaintiff)