This past winter the East Coast was hammered by winter storms. Charleston injury lawyers remember this because it was the first time Charleston had snowfall since the early 2000s. Of course, the conditions in South Carolina were not near as threatening as those in the Northeast and posed little threat for serious injury, although response the the inch and half of snow was as if the blizzard of the century had descended upon the Lowcountry.
The same jest cannot be used to describe a situation that occurred in Pittsburgh back in February. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a 50-year-old man was found dead after ten 911 phone calls and 30 hours of waiting for ambulance crews to respond.
An experienced accident lawyer representing the man’s children tried to obtain a financial settlement from the city worth $500,000 and was “stonewalled,” the city promptly rejected the settlement. The plaintiff in this case note a complete breakdown in the EMS and 911 system in their lack of response. Three ambulances were dispatched to the man’s residence, none of which made it.
Interestingly, in this case, Top City Officials were critical of the lack of effort of the emergency response team call to the Allegheny County man’s home by not walking to his residence, using a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, or even contacting the fire department. Basically the city is aware of negligence and realizes this is a wrongful death that could have been avoided, but was unwilling to settle the case. Now it will be up to the courts to decide.