PITTSBURGH - Collier Township and its emergency medical services team are accused of dropping a 97-year-old woman on the ground, causing her pain and suffering before her death.
Una Charlene Langer recently sued Collier Township, the Collier Township Firefighters Association and Kirwan Heights Volunteer Firemen's Association in the Allegheny County Court of Pleas.
Langer sues on behalf of the estate of her mother, Una Mai Langer, who had been a longtime resident of Heritage Manor Senior Living in Brentwood by December 2022.
Langer was being transported from St. Clair Hospital to Heritage Manor by Collier Township paramedics in a non-emergency transport. She was placed on a stretcher around 1 a.m.
But a wheel on the stretcher got caught on an unseen hole in the parking lot asphalt, a Township report says. It is alleged the EMTs failed to secure Langer with straps or look for hazards in the stretcher's path.
"These failures by the Collier Township EMTs caused the stretcher to tip over, with Ms. Langer still on it," the suit says.
"Ms. Langer landed on her left side and slammed the left side of her head and body onto the cold, hard pavement with such force and violence as to cause her injuries..."
Injuries included severe pain in her left shoulder and on the left side of her head, the suit says. She was taken to UPMC Mercy after the fall.
It was determined she had broken her clavicle but given her age, she could not undergo surgery to have it repaired.
"(S)he experienced constant and excruciating pain, suffering and limitations with rehabilitation and activities of daily living for the few remaining months of her life," the suit says.
"Ms. Langer passed away on April 18, 2023."
The suit makes a claim for negligence, seeking damages for Langer's pain, suffering, fright, humiliation, anxiety, impairment of health and loss of enjoyment of the daily pleasures of life, among other claims.
The defendants are charged with failing to establish adequate procedures for rendering non-emergency medical care. David Martin of Robert Peirce & Associates represents the plaintiff.