An Arlington woman is suing for $1 million after she says she was injured in an elevator at Fort Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital in 2017.
Thomas Fisher, the lawyer representing Patricia Price, said in a lawsuit filed Monday that his client was on the fourth floor of the hospital's professional building on Sept. 11, 2017 seeing her primary care physician.
"While standing in the elevator, Ms. Price was violently jolted by the abrupt falling, then stopping, of the elevator," Fisher said.
The lawsuit added that Price was taken to JPS' emergency room via ambulance for treatment and that the impact caused serious and permanent injuries to Price's neck and back that requires "continuous" and "extensive medical treatment."
Price and her lawyer contend the elevator was malfunctioning prior to her injury and that the property owner had received complaints from other users about that elevator as well as other elevators on the property.
The hospital has a recent history of injury claims related to elevators. In January of this year, 56-year-old Carren Stratford, a nurse, fell into a coma after being crushed by an elevator while working at the hospital. After a month, Stratford woke from her coma and was discharged from the ICU but remained hospitalized facing a long recovery. Her current condition is known; JPS said Tuesday they do not have permission to release her status.
Following Stratford's injury, JPS Chief Executive Officer Robert Earley said in February he was considering legal action against thyssenkrupp, who had a maintenance contract to maintain the hospital's elevators. In March, JPS fired thyssenkrupp and the next month entered into a five-year maintenance agreement with SW Elevators.
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Thyssenkrupp, meanwhile, said in the days ahead of Stratford's accident they had warned the hospital to stop having untrained employees make repairs to the elevators.
Price is suing both JPS and thyssenkrupp, alleging both failed to properly maintain the elevators in the hospital back in 2017. Price is seeking a trial by jury and damages between $200,000 and $1 million.
JPS told NBC 5 Tuesday that they do not comment on pending litigation. A copy of Price's lawsuit is below.
