Nursing assistant claims stretcher with corpse injured her

A former medical worker is suing a local funeral home for injuries she sustained after an unsecured stretcher on which lay a corpse fell against her.

Attorneys Sidney I. Leabman and Michael T. Leabman, of The Leabman Law Firm, P.C., filed the premises liability lawsuit June 3 at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Philadelphia resident Aisha Johnson.

According to the complaint, Johnson was working as a certified nursing assistant for Chester-County, Pa.-based Neighborhood Health Agencies Inc. in early July 2009 when she became injured on the job.

Johnson was in the midst of transferring the body of a deceased patient onto a stretcher at the DeBaptiste Funeral Home in West Chester, Pa. when the gurney, which was not in the locked position, began to roll and fell into Johnson, the lawsuit alleges.

The complaint accuses the defendant, DeBaptiste Funeral Homes, Inc., of carelessness and negligence for allowing a dangerous condition to exist.

The plaintiff sustained lower back pain, leg pain, a bulging disc and other injuries that left her “sick, sore, lame and disabled,” the suit states.

As a result of the incident, Johnson has incurred various medical expenses and has experienced a disruption in her daily duties and activities, the lawsuit states.

Johnson seeks a judgment in her favor in a sum not in excess of $50,000, exclusive of court costs and interest.

The non-jury matter is scheduled for an arbitration hearing Feb. 6, 2012.

The case number is 110504007.