Jury Awards Former La. Medic $1.5 Million in Injury Lawsuit

A federal jury has awarded a former New Orleans paramedic more than $1.5 million for injuries sustained while working in the back of an ambulance, the Times-Picayune reported this week.

Paramedic Ryan Earls was treating a gunshot victim in the rear of a Medtec Ambulance Corp. ambulance in December 2010, when the vehicle reportedly hit a bump and the bench seat collapsed.

Earls injured his back and had to be removed from the ambulance at the hospital, according to his attorney, and sustained bulging discs in his back and nerve damage.

The jury determined that the ambulance manufacturer knowingly designed a dangerous bench seat. The award amount was designated to cover $200,000 for loss of future wages and benefits, $600,000 for medical expenses and $700,000 for pain and suffering.

Medtec and New Orleans EMS did not comment for the Times-Picayune report.