PRINCETON — A Princeton couple is suing Princeton Community Hospital Association alleging injury after surgery.
Amber Gray, a registered nurse, was also named as a defendant in the suit.
James H. Smith and Janet M. Smith filed the lawsuit claiming that James Smith, who was 76 at the time, went to the hospital on July 22, to undergo a colonoscopy and was taken in at 7:05 a.m., according to a complaint filed in Mercer Circuit Court.
James Smith's procedure was completed at 7:26 a.m. and he was transferred to post-anesthesia care at 7:32 a.m. At 7:50 a.m., only 18 minutes later, Gray recorded his "discharge score" as 10 out of 10 and gave him his clothes and instructed him to get dressed.
However, when James Smith attempted to dress, he became unsteady and fell to the floor and broke his right hip, according to the suit.
James Smith claims he was taken back to the operating room and underwent an open reduction internal fixation with long gamma nail fixation of the right hip to the right proximal femur. He claims Gray should have known he was a fall risk.
The Smiths are seeking compensatory damages. They are represented by Brian Headley, James Ballard and Jonathan Matthews of Headley Ballard.
Mercer Circuit Court case number: 21-C-54
