Can I sue county employed EMTs if they severely injured my mother
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Can I sue county employed EMTs if they severely injured my mother
My mothers hip was broken by 2 Darlington County EMTs. She will never be able to walk or stand on her own again we have been told by her physical therapy supervisor. We currently have a lawyer and they are suing the county for the max 300k. Tho I have read and have been told that it is common practice to also sue the employees who performed the act that broke moms hip and forever changed her life. This i would like to do. IF we get the max 300k we will end up with about 100k. 100k will not help much at all. I have been Moms caregiver since 2014. I drove her wherever all the time. she enjoyed rides to nowhere. I also took her to her doctors, out to eat, to movies, to yard sales, fishing and most importantly I was able to get her in my truck and evacuate her when dangerous storms threatened our safey we had a tree hit our home during Hurricane Matthew my truck is not equipped for a wheel chair so I will need a wheel chair van. After the purchase of a wheelchair van we will have little left to do the so much more that will be needed. She just got medicaid and community long term care so for the moment I have an aid that helps me 4 hours a day 5 days a week, I am also being helped with incontinence supplies and her medicare and part d premiums by the state. Once the settlement takes place, we will be forced out of the income bracket that allows us to get this help so I will need to pay for A LOT out of pocket. I want to sue to be sure that I can do all I possibly can to make sure mom has the best help possible. I REFUSE to put her in a home. That is a promise i made to her years ago and I will never break it As I said we are currently suing the county, it is in pretrial discovery phase I am told. I want to sue the two EMTs who went against documented protocol and broke my mothers hip. These two EMTS also document in the run log that they went against protocol. Protocol is that they are suppose to carry a person of my mothers age and frailness out of the home by stretcher, backboard or stair chair and NOT ever manually by arms and legs. They carried her by arms and legs and her bones were too weak for that. Infact her bones were so weak t hat the orthopedic team determined that they couild not do surgery to do a hip replacement because they felt her bones were too weak to hold any screws. I want to know can I sue the EMTs. I also want to know if this is something my current lawyer should be discussing with me or should I seek another law firm for this suit against the 2 EMTs.
Asked on October 23, 2018 under Personal Injury, South Carolina
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
Yes, legally you can sue the EMTs, too. Generally, there is partial immunity for them from lawsuits, to encourage people to be EMTs, but it is only partial immunity typically: it requires you to show their wrong doing by a higher standard of proof or evidence (e.g. that they were "grossly negligent" or VERY careless, not just ordinarily negligent or careless), but suing them is an option. You would have to discuss with this your current lawyer and bring any claims against them in the same lawsuit: legal doctrince requires that all relevant parties, and all claims, arising out of one event be resolved at once, so not suing them the same time can bar you from suing them later. Note also that if the don't have the money to pay any judgment against them, or they file for bankruptcy after you sue, suing them may not end up resulting in much more payment to your mother.
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