California Man's Family Claims Fall from Gurney Killed Him

The family of a 79-year-old man who died after emergency medical personnel dropped him from a gurney on the way to the ambulance has filed a claim with the city of Ventura for damages.

Domingo Cardona tumbled off the gurney on Feb. 4 after emergency medical personnel responded to a call that he was vomiting blood.

The family's lawyer, David Shain, said the medical personnel did not strap Domingo Cardona tightly onto the gurney, and the rails on one side were not raised. He fell onto the driveway, striking his head on the pavement and breaking his neck.

He died at Community Memorial Hospital five days later, on Feb. 9. According to the claim, the fall was the cause of his death.

Cardona's wife, Esperanza; son, Arthur; and daughter, Tina Marquez, are claiming more than $25,000 in damages.

Shain said Domingo Cardona was not a healthy man. He was on dialysis and both legs, one arm, and several fingers had been amputated due to complications from scleroderma.

The claim is a precursor to a lawsuit Shain is preparing on the family's behalf, which will name the city and American Medical Response, the ambulance company.

It is unclear if it was the city's or AMR's emergency medical personnel who were responsible for transporting Domingo Cardona. Emergency medical personnel from the city were at the incident, which is why a claim was filed with Ventura.

Company spokeswoman Deborah Hileman said Thursday the company was unaware of the filing but declined to comment further.

Ventura Assistant City Attorney Chris Norman said the city would treat the claim like any other and do an investigation internally before making assessments about the city's potential liability.

"Obviously, we feel very sorry for what happened," he said.

Shain said that "emergency medical technicians often perform very heroic services; however in this instance they apparently were negligent in the manner of transporting Mr. Cardona to the ambulance."

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