Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Today’s active lifestyle, especially that of a teenager, dictates that we must be able to move freely and there is nothing more tragic than losing control over your body. But that is exactly what a person who is rendered a quadriplegic faces – loss of all motor skills, sensation, tasks such as eating and breathing become impossible - simple tasks that most of us take for granted are often lost beyond any hope of recovery. When the spinal cord is severed in the neck above the shoulders, there is little chance of recovering a normal life.

Our victim in this Florida premises liability case was 17 years old at the time of this horrifying accident in which he was rendered a quadriplegic. The victim and several of his friends were at a party at the home of one of their classmates. At that party, which commenced around 9:00 p.m., the under-aged party goers had consumed alcoholic beverages that had been sold to a number of the teenaged boys present by several different business establishments. While under the influence of alcohol and being intoxicated, several of the young men, including the victim, began to rough house on a portion of the lawn near the driveway of this residence. The victim was thrown to the ground on a grassy berm and various boys piled on top of him. As they piled on him, the victim was at the bottom of the pile and in the process of the other boys piling on top of him and rolling around, the victim was caused to have a C-6 burst fracture to his neck which cut into his spinal cord and caused him subsequent quadriplegia.

One of the boys testified that everyone started piling on with the victim on the bottom of the pile and that sometime during the “pile up”, the victim started yelling and everyone started getting off. He stated that everyone thought the victim was joking at first, but when they all got off of him he was just lying there crying and yelling that he couldn’t move.

The paramedics were called and he was taken to Delray Community Hospital, where he was immediately transferred to the trauma unit. Upon examination by an orthopedic spine surgeon, he found the lower extremities demonstrated complete paralysis of the muscles with no voluntary movement. The light touch sensation was absent below the nipple line. He was also absent hand grip and intrinsic function. He was immediately placed on a Rota-Rest bed and placed into cranial cervical traction. The surgeon performed surgery for spinal stabilization within two days of the incident.

Following surgery, the victim was transferred to the spinal cord injury unit and was given a comprehensive rehabilitation evaluation. Shortly after that evaluation, he was transferred to Pinecrest Rehabilitation Hospital where he remained as a C-7 level complete quadriplegic. He was placed on a comprehensive rehabilitation program for spinal cord injury that included physical therapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation nursing, case management and rehabilitation psychology. He was also placed on a bladder and bowel program and received treatment for numerous urinary tract infections.

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Most amusement parks, carnivals and state fairs have installed “kiddie” rides to entice children so young they may not even be able to walk. But beneath the bright lights and cheerful paint is heavy machinery that may put young children in danger of being seriously injured. Inside fun houses, for instance, are swaying floors, rotating drums, moving stairways and other machines. These may be safe for adults, but very often present the possibility of significant injury to young children.

One January evening, a mother and father were enjoying the South Florida Fair with their three sons. The youngest child, two years old at the time, was running through the fun house with his 13 year old babysitter while his mother and father watched from outside. As he was running through the fun house, he came upon an area of the fun house where there are 3 disks in the floor with poles extending upward from the center of each disk. These disks spin on motors and the object is to step on them and try to make your way across. The two year old victim in this case stepped on the disk and fell, causing his right thumb to become amputated at the knuckle as it was caught between the rotating disks.

The victim in this Florida premises liability case was rushed to Palms West Medical Center where reattachment of the thumb was attempted, but unfortunately, this reattachment failed and the thumb subsequently had to be amputated several days later. He was later seen by a specialist at Miami Children’s Hospital for a second opinion. The physicians outlined five options for the family at that point: (1) Do nothing and let him make the natural adjustments necessary for the loss of this partial thumb; (2) A toe transfer – the most complicated of all options but probably the best solution in the physicians’ eyes since he would have feeling in the end of the thumb; (3) A distraction lengthening of the thumb; (4) Wearing a prosthetic thumb; and (5) An osteo-integrated implant. Now the parents are left with a very tough decision. Of course the three surgical options would all be quite expensive.

The parents in this situation contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler to advise them of their options in this matter and to file a lawsuit against the amusement company that owned the “kiddie rides” and the company that was in charge of setting up, maintaining and operating these rides.

In this Florida premises liability case, a married couple from Las Vegas, Nevada had planned a long awaited vacation in sunny South Florida. They were to stay in one of Miami’s most prestigious hotels – the Fountainbleu.

After checking in, the husband had some phone calls to make and some work to catch up on so he stayed in the room while the wife went downstairs to the pool. The wife stayed by the pool for several hours relaxing and enjoying the sun. When she returned to the room, she noticed that her husband was not there but was not worried, since she assumed he had gone down to the hotel bar or was touring the hotel. She went ahead and showered and ordered some food from room service, as she was sure that he would return shortly for dinner.

After several hours went by, she became increasingly concerned that he had not returned and she began making some phone calls. However, no one had heard from him and the hotel desk clerks stated they had not seen her husband.

Later that evening, as one of the hotel employees was making rounds to ascertain that everything was as it should be in the hotel, he came upon the body of the husband in the stairwell near the couple’s room. He had been killed with a garotte, which is a wire with a handle at each end used for strangling. Because this apparatus was used, the police stated that it very possibly could have been a contract killing. The police surmised that he had been surprised in his room and then pulled into the stairwell, even though there were no signs of struggle in the motel room.

Of course, the wife was questioned at length concerning her husband’s death but was not charged. The husband was a wealthy businessman so the police were looking at all of his personal and business connections. Unfortunately, this murder was never solved.

This couple had been married a relatively short period of time and had no children together, but he had five children from his previous marriage. The widow in this case contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler to assist her in suing the hotel for negligent security on behalf of herself and her five step-children. Mr. Schuler retained a security expert in this case and together they were able to show that the hotel had inadequate security at the time of this incident, and that there had been criminal activity in this area in the past.

It is not always abuse that causes deaths in nursing homes. Many times, it is simple neglect. People place their loved ones in nursing homes so that they will receive medical treatment and because they are unable to care for them and be there for them at all times as in a nursing home. Unfortunately, however, many times some nursing homes are not the safest place for the elderly.

The victim in this Florida nursing home case was 72 years old at the time of his death. Two days before he had been transported via ambulance to Delray Community Hospital after he fell from his wheelchair and hit his head on the floor. As a result of this fall, he sustained a laceration to the right forehead and a right subarachnoid hemorrhage with left inferior occipital area hemorrhage consistent with contrecoup and a laceration to his forehead.

An investigation indicated that the nursing home not only consistently failed to provide adequate protective and supportive services for this gentleman, but that the facility knew and documented his cognitive losses in short and long term memory and periods of delirium with his mental function varying over the course of the day. He had also had previous falls and had tried to climb out of bed. The nursing home records reflect that from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. he had a private sitter with him. The family had hired a private sitter as they were told by the staff that they couldn’t watch him continuously. His wife, who was 70 years old, tried to be with him the other 12 hours of the day. At one point the nurses have documented that the patient was placed in a wheelchair up by the nurse’s station as the patient had tried to get up and walk alone several times.

On the morning of the incident in question, the patient was found on the floor of his room with no apparent injuries noted.

Unfortunately, despite the facility’s knowledge of the victim’s dementia, memory loss and confused state, it did not see fit to use any type of safety device to prevent him from getting out of his wheelchair. Also, the medical records reflect that the employees of the nursing home did not keep the head of this victim’s bed elevated to 45 degrees as required of a patient getting G-Tube feedings, nor did they do the other preventative measures which were the standard.

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