Thursday, November 02, 2006

Police Captain Sues Everyone After Heart Attack

Oh, geez, just when I'm trying to get on a plane I read this:
The suit, filed by attorney Michael Lucas, is seeking compensation for physical and mental pain suffered by former police captain Gordon Carter, who left the police department after he had a heart attack in July 2005.

According to the suit, Dr. Thomas Donahue implanted a Medtronic ICD pacemaker, or internal cardiac defibrillator, to correct Carter's heart problem in August 2005. After testing two months later, the pacemaker was found to be defective and it was replaced with another Medtronic device.

Now Carter is suing Medtronic, Inc., the city of Pikeville, the Pikeville Police Department, the Kentucky League of cities, its insurance service agency and workers' compensation fund as well as unknown defendants associated with the manufacturing and distribution of the Medtronic pacemaker.

Lucas claims that Carter was injured by the “unreasonably unsafe hazardous product” because it was defective. Carter was “forced” to go through cardiac rehabilitation, delayed recovery, depression, pain, “attendant worries” and additional medical expenses because of the defective pacemaker, he wrote in the suit.

He alleges that the company, by manufacturing and distributing the device, implied that it was safe, and he argues that they caused harm to Carter by failing to warn him or his doctor about the potential dangers.

Lucas claims that city officials accepted Carter's heart attack as a work-related injury, but city officials say they don't have the authority to make that determination.
To think the poor El Capitan was "forced" to go through rehab... what were those doctors thinking?

And we wonder why health care costs are skyrocketing...

-Wes

PS: The captain should consider reading this book. It will put his health problems in perspective.

1 comment:

Cathy said...

I'm confused about this one Dr. Wes. Is he suing the city claiming his job caused all the stress that might have led to his heart problems?

If so, lets see about this for a minute. My husband is a retired police detective. I'm not sure how anyone accepting any job within law enforcement, could possibly think there wouldn't be alot of stress. He also knew accepting the position of "Captain" would significantly add to his stress level. No one made him accept these positions.

I have also seen many of cops, whose lifestyle habits, indicate a heart attack waiting to happen..

My husband sat one night (half in half out of his cruiser) while some lunatic held a fully erected "Bow and Arrow" against his chest for 5 hours. Thats how long it took to distract the guy long enough to safely knock his arm away. God, they wanted to shoot him, but that wasn't a possibility.

Cops have terribly stressful jobs, and Im sure his job has added negatively to both of our health problems, but it is just one of those things that come with the job.

We are one sue happy society! It is sickening!