Montgomery, AL — Sawyer Law Firm, LLC has filed a wrongful death case on behalf of the family of a Montgomery woman who suffered a fall while being transported by a non-emergency medical transport company. The woman, who was a nursing home resident, was being transported to dialysis treatment when she was thrown from her wheelchair onto the floor of the transport van. The lawsuit alleges that the woman suffered injuries from the fall that ultimately led to her death.
“This poor lady was not properly secured in the chair prior to the transport, and this resulted in her being seriously harmed,” said Attorney J.P. Sawyer. “There is little or no oversight or regulation of these non-emergency transport companies, and the result is that you have folks who are unqualified and poorly trained transporting vulnerable elderly individuals,” Sawyer said he was shocked when this family contacted him, as he was already working on an almost identical case against the same company. “In that case, we learned that the driver had received no training and that he had not even gone through the ‘pre-transfer checklist’ to ensure the safety of the individual. As a result, the woman was thrown from her wheelchair and suffered a fractured arm. Instead of calling for emergency help, the driver called a co-worker to come to help him put the lady back in the chair so he could carry her back to the nursing home.”
Alabama Medicaid’s NET (non-emergency transport) program is set up to help pay for rides to and from a doctor’s office, clinic, or another place for medical care that can be planned ahead of time.
The lawsuit also includes claims against the nursing home where the woman resided.
The lawsuit alleges that the nursing home failed to properly screen the transport company and failed to ensure that the woman was secured in the van prior to leaving the facility. “The nursing home is responsible for the safe transportation of the resident to medical appointments, and they failed this lady by putting her in the hands of an unsafe transport company,” Sawyer said.