Four women sue St. Mary's Medical Center for negligence

HUNTINGTON -- A widow and her three daughters are suing St. Mary's Medical Center for negligence.

Betty S. Smith and her daughters, Alannia J. Mayes, Mary H. Gould and Margaret S. Cade, are co-administrators of the Estate of Woodrow Wilson Smith.

On Jan. 24, 2008, Mr. Smith went to the emergency room at St. Mary's complaining of shortness of breath, according to a complaint filed Jan. 14 in Cabell Circuit Court.

The defendant determined Mr. Smith was a fall risk and that fall precautions should be instituted and maintained, according to the suit.

The plaintiffs claim Mr. Smith was then left unattended and without appropriate fall/injury protection. He was later found on the floor beside his bed and complained he hit his head and had pain in his right hip/leg.

Mr. Smith suffered a serious injury to his head, a subcapital fracture of the right hip, a hip decubitus, an extensive hematoma of the hip and other injuries that required medical care, according to the suit.

Mr. Smith was hospitalized for the injuries and was discharged Feb. 14, 2008.

The plaintiffs claim St. Mary's did not take a reasonable precaution to prevent him from falling while being treated in the hospital. They claim St. Mary's was negligence and that Mr. Smith's injuries from the fall hastened his death on March 14, 2008.

Smith, Mayes, Gould and Cade are seeking compensatory damages. They are being represented by Paul K. Reese of Warner Law Offices.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge F. Jane Hustead.

Cabell Circuit Court case number: 10-C-34