Getting The Right Experts Leads To Favorable Settlement In Exam Room Fall
May 3, 2017
Plaintiff, Deloris Davis, sued Foot & Ankle Health Care Center after she fell in an examination room during her treatment for chronic foot pain. The fall was allegedly due to the dangerous condition created when the podiatrist directed her to wear paper slippers and walk across the examination roomâs hardwood flooring. Plaintiffâs damages included a complete tear of her rotator cuff requiring over 6 months of physical therapy and open rotator cuff surgery to repair. Despite a successful surgery, Plaintiff had daily pain and permanent loss of movement in her arm and shoulder.
Patton & Ryan retained experts in premises liability, human factors, and orthopedic surgery to attack Plaintiffâs theory of liability and causation head on. Slip resistance testing was conducted showing that the hardwood flooring in the examination room met all recognized standards for slip resistance. A human factors analysis showed that the fall was not related to the medical grade paper slippers, but was rather due to Plaintiffâs failure to follow the medical staffâs directions. Our expert in orthopedic surgery identified that diagnostic imaging from after the accident showed degenerative changes to Plaintiffâs shoulder consistent with a pre-existing condition.
Patton & Ryanâs aggressive âleave no stone unturnedâ defense resulted in a favorable settlement of less than ½ the Plaintiffâs past medical expenses and far below the cost of defense in the week before trial.