Anyone who has kept watch over a hospitalized loved one knows the routine. You stay late, staff bring in a fold-out cot, and you try to rest a few feet from the bed. Few people stop to wonder whether that cot is safe. For one mother, the answer came in the middle of the night, when the cot beneath her collapsed.
The Townsley Law Firm represented her, and the case resolved in a settlement of more than $400,000.
A night at her son’s bedside ended in a fall
Our client was visiting her son, who was a patient at a hospital. As a guest of the facility, she was given a cot by the hospital so she could stay the night in his room. While she slept, the cot broke and collapsed. She fell and suffered severe injuries to her neck, back, and hips.
A fall from a cot may sound minor. It is not. A sleeping person has no chance to brace, reach for support, or shift her weight. The body drops all at once, and the neck, spine, and hips absorb much of the force. Injuries like these can cause lasting pain, limit movement, and disrupt work, sleep, and everyday tasks long after the fall. Our client faced ongoing medical care, rehabilitation, and prescription costs, along with the physical pain and emotional toll that followed.
Our investigation established that the cot needed maintenance before it ever reached our client. The hospital had placed the cot in a storage room with a sign on it showing that it needed repairs. The hospital had already identified the cot as unsafe and set it aside. Then a hospital employee removed the repair sign and brought the cot to the room for our client to use.
That discovery changed the case. Property owners often defend injury claims by arguing they had no way to know about a hidden defect. Here, the hospital’s own staff had labeled the defect. The hospital failed to provide safe sleeping arrangements for visitors, failed to inspect the cots it handed out, and failed to warn guests about danger.
Louisiana law holds owners responsible for defects they knew about
Louisiana Civil Code article 2317.1 makes the owner or custodian of a thing answerable for damage caused by its defect when the owner knew or should have known of the defect, the damage could have been prevented with reasonable care, and the owner failed to use that care. The rule covers more than buildings and floors. A “thing” can be a piece of equipment or furniture, including a hospital cot.
Knowledge is often the hardest piece to prove. Louisiana courts treat “should have known” as a reasonable duty to discover apparent defects, and whether an owner had that knowledge is a question of fact. Injured people frequently must piece together that proof from maintenance records, inspection habits, and employee testimony.
In this case, the repair sign answered the knowledge question directly. The remaining elements followed from that fact. Leaving the cot in storage until someone fixed it would have prevented the fall. Removing the sign and handing a known defective cot to an overnight guest fell short of reasonable care.
Hospital visitors are owed safe conditions too
Conversations about hospital safety usually focus on patients. Family members and caregivers, however, spend long hours in the same rooms and hallways, and they rely on the same equipment. When a hospital offers a visitor a cot, a chair, or a place to rest, the hospital controls that equipment and bears responsibility for keeping it in safe condition.
Visitor injuries can stem from collapsing cots and recliners, broken chairs, wet or cluttered floors, and poorly lit parking areas. The common thread is a hazard the facility controlled and failed to fix or remove.
If you or someone you love was hurt because a hospital, business, or property owner ignored a known danger, The Townsley Law Firm can investigate what went wrong and pursue the compensation you deserve.
