Dropped Patient Gets $200k Settlement from Orange County Fire Rescue

Orange County, Florida has settled a two year old lawsuit over a dropped patient. Orange County Fire-Rescue personnel dropped 52 year old Astolfo Lugo back in July, 2006, when the wooden chair they were carrying him on, broke. Lugo, a diabetic, suffered a broken hip, two broken shoulders, and a fractured spine in the fall.

Suit was filed in 2007, and was settled this month for the sum of $200,000. Paramedics apparently opted to transport Lugo on the wooden kitchen chair that they found him sitting on, conscious but unresponsive. After the incident, the department implemented a policy requiring patients to be transported using fire department equipment (stair chair or stretcher).

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