Date: 09-19-2012

Case Style: Donna Ward v. TLC Non-Emergency Medical Transport

Case Number: 0909620CA

Judge: Cynthia Pivacek

Court: Circuit Court, Collier County, Florida

Plaintiff's Attorney: Daniel Cotter, Law Office of Daniel W. Cotter, P.C., Decatur, Georgia and Orlando, Florida

Defendant's Attorney: Bruce M. Stanley Sr., Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A., Ft. Myers, FL

Description: On September 21, 2007, plaintiff Loren Dederick, 88, a World War II veteran, was dropped out at the wrong assisted living home by Dimas Herrera, a driver for TLC Non-Emergency Medical Transport. Dederick, a dementia patient, was left at HarborChase Naples; a non-secured assisted living home, instead of HarborChase North Collier, the secure facility that Dederick lived at. Two nurses told Herrera Dederick did not belong there but Herrera left him anyway. When Herrera returned, Dederick had left the facility. He was found a few blocks away from the facility by a Collier County sheriff's deputy five days later, lying on the ground in dense brush, half-naked, dehydrated, and delirious. He was rushed to NCH North Naples Hospital and sustained a permanent change in demeanor and cognitive ability following the incident. Dederick was later committed under Florida's Baker Act in December of 2007 for nearly two weeks. Dederick passed away August 2011, after being.

Dederick’ s daughter, Donna Ward, and granddaughter Lauren Carey sued as personal representatives of Dederick's estate. Named as defendant in the complaint was TLC Non-Emergency Medical Transport,. The defendant was accused of negligence in leaving Dederick in a home that he did not belong at, and in failing to properly train its employees. Plaintiffs’ counsel claimed that the incident permanently damaged Dederick physically, cognitively, and changed his personality completely.

Herrera, a driver for TLC for 3 years, was driving Dederick from the hospital, where he had been brought to the emergency room for chest pains. Allegedly, the hospital gave Herrera a ticket that listed Dederick's old address at HarborChase Naples, located at 7801 Airport-Pulling Road, Naples, FL. Reportedly, Dederick was confused as Herrera wheeled him into the facility, and two nurses told Herrera, who was not fluent in English, that Dederick did not belong there. The Plaintiffs claimed that Herrera disobeyed company policy by not calling his supervisors to figure out if Dederick was in the right place. Instead, said Plaintiff's counsel, Herrera left Dederick at the facility, and left to go to McDonalds. A HarborChase nurse then called Herrera, asking him to return to the facility. Herrera allegedly offered to return shortly after he left, but another driver did not show to bring Dederick to the proper facility until two-and-a-half hours later, allowing Dederick to wander off of the premises. According to Plaintiff's counsel, had Herrera been properly trained by TLC, he would have taken the necessary steps to resolve the situation, by calling TLC or the hospital and clarifying where Dederick was supposed to go, instead of leaving him at the facility.

TLC contended that this incident would not have occurred at all had the hospital not acted negligently in giving Herrera the wrong address to transport Dederick to. According to the defense's expert nurse, the hospital was responsible for negligence. Harbor Retirement Associates LLC, Harbor Naples Management LLC, and Harbor Assisted Living LLC resolved their disputes through confidential arbitration with Plaintiff's counsel in May 2012, while Naples Community Hospital reached a confidential settlement with Plaintiff's counsel weeks before the trial.

Injuries/Damages
Dementia; Depression; Cognition impairment.

Dederick was found lying in dense brush, covered in bug bites, dehydrated, lying with cut feet, delirious, and suffering from acute renal failure. Following his excursion into the wilderness, Dederick's ability to think and communicate were allegedly adversely effected, the incident accelerating the symptoms of his dementia. According to Plaintiff's counsel, Dederick was a happy and pleasant man, even with his existing dementia, before the incident occurred. After, the Plaintiffs’ counsel claimed, Dederick became unhappy, depressed, suicidal, and overall unpleasant. He was also allegedly unable to cope with stresses, and was unable to grapple with the loss of his wife in November 2007. In December 2007, Dederick was committed via the Florida Mental Health Act, or the Baker Act, for about two weeks. According to the Plaintiffs’ geriatrics expert, it was the traumatic event of Dederick's nearly dying in the elements that triggered his delirium. Dederick passed away in August of 2011.
Plaintiff's ‘ counsel asked the jury for a recovery of $1 Million Dollars, for pain and suffering damages, loss of normal life, and medical costs for Dederick's hospitalization following the incident.

The defense contended that after the incident, Dederick returned to his baseline condition, and denied that his health deteriorated because of the traumatic nature of the incident.

Outcome: A jury decided in favor of the Plaintiffs, deciding that TLC was 90 percent negligent, the other 10 percent being assigned to Naples Community Hospital, who had already settled out of the case. The jury awarded Dederick's estate $769,931.74, which was reduced by 10 percent due to the liability ruling.

Plaintiff's Experts: Gerhard A. Krembs, M.D., Emergency Medicine, Naples, FL (treating)

Peter V. Rabins, M.D., Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Defendant's Experts: Bruce E. Robinson, M.D., Geriatrics, Sarasota, FL

Comments: Trial Details Trial Length: 4 Days Jury Deliberations: 2.75 Hours Jury Poll: 6-0 Jury Composition: 2 male, 4 female