Personal Injury Law

Wheelchair Company Sued After Disabled Rights Activist Dies

By Michael

A wrongful death lawsuit filed against a wheel chair manufacturing company alleges that a malfunctioning wheel chair led to the death of a prominent disability activist.

The lawsuit, filed in Boston by the parents of quadriplegic Jeffrey Thompson, requested $10 million in damages from National Seating & Mobility Inc. The personal injury lawsuit claims that during a routine repair Thompson?s wheel chair malfunctioned, pinned his legs under a table which caused life-threatening seizures, the Associated Press reported.

Thompson?s family refused a $1 million settlement offered by the company.

?He was just such a fine young man who had recovered from a major injury, being a quadriplegic, and had developed into someone who was very special,? Charles Thompson about 29-year-old Jeffrey. ?He laughed and smiled every day.?

The suit claims that technicians working on the motorized wheel chair were inadequately trained to handle the repair, and claims the workers should have removed Jeffrey from the chair and disconnected the chair?s battery before fixing the chair.

Spokespeople for National Seating and Mobility, Inc. declined to comment on the pending court case.

Jeffrey Thompson was at his parents? house with two Boston-area repair technicians working for the wheel chair manufacturer on Dec. 10, 2007. The repairs were to be made on electrical wiring in the chair, according to AP.

While the men were working on the chair, it suddenly lifted, causing Thompson?s legs to be pinned under the table he was sitting at. Thompson?s leg was broken in the accident and then he began suffering from uncontrollable seizures afterward, the AP reported.

Thompson died one day after the accident in a nearby hospital.

The Thompson family?s personal injury attorney, Jonathon Friedmann, said there is no reason why the chair should have shorted out during the repairs, and there is also no reason why the battery should have remained within the chair while it was worked on.

?There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be here today,” Friedmann said.

Charles Thompson told AP that when repairs were made on the chair before Jeffrey died, the technician always removed him from the chair first and placed him in another before starting to work. Thompson also said that was the first time those two men had visited their home and worked on Jeffrey?s chair.

Jeffrey Thompson was 17 when he suffered a spinal injury while in a car accident while a friend was driving. He went on to graduate from college and was a vocal advocate for increased disabled access to Boston-area public transit.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on March 20, 2010 (boomark / email).