Dorothy Cowles of Ellington, CT, recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Ellington Volunteer Ambulance Corps. and the town after EMTs failed to properly strap her onto a stretcher, causing her to fall.
Ellington Volunteer Ambulance Corps and the town of Ellington is at the center of a new medical malpractice lawsuit filed by an elderly woman, Dorothy Cowles, 89. According to her lawsuit, Cowles fell from a stretcher in January 2018 when EMTs failed to properly strap her onto the stretcher to transport her from her home to an ambulance. As a result, she fell to the ground and sustained injuries.
The suit itself was filed in Vernon Superior Court on December 20 by Cowles’ attorney, Elizabeth Swanson. Donna Sypeck, Cowles’ daughter, is also named as a plaintiff in the suit because she “suffered serious emotional distress as a result of watching her mother fall off of the stretcher.” Together, the mother and daughter are seeking “more than $15,000 in damages.”
In addition to suing the town and ambulance corps, the suit also names EMT Brandon Clark and Peter Hany, the president of the ambulance corps, as defendants. The suit alleges that both Clark and Hany “responded to a call from Cowles, who was 88 at the time, on Jan. 12, 2018 after she fell in her home on Abbott Road and injured her hip.” They arrived at her home around 7 p.m. and “placed her onto a stretcher and began to transport her from her home to the ambulance without fastening straps to secure her to the stretcher,” according to the suit. While transporting her to the ambulance, Clark and Hany “lost control of the stretcher and dropped Cowles to the ground.” As a result, the suit accuses both EMTs of negligence.
According to Swanson, the fall caused Cowles to suffer a “fracture to the left side of her nose, a fracture beneath her left eye, a deviated septum, severe bruising on the left side of her face and arm, and nerve pain.” She added, “It’s my understanding that she is still suffering.” Swanson also noted that she is certain that Cowles’ injuries were not from her original fall in her home because “she fell on her right side in her home, and when she fell off the stretcher she fell on her left side.” She further stated, “It just never should have happened.”
After her fall, Cowles was “transported to Rockville General Hospital in Vernon where she was treated for her injuries.” Unfortunately, throughout the ordeal, she incurred “financial obligations for hospital and medical care, surgery, short-term residential care, skilled nursing services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and will be forced to incur further obligations for the same in the future,” according to the suit. It’s her hope that the lawsuit will result in a settlement to help alleviate some of her financial burdens from the incident.
Ellington Volunteer Ambulance Corps. is located in Ellington, CT and specializes in providing EMS services to Ellington and surrounding communities.
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