Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Superior Court jury has found that Roger Williams Medical Center was negligent in allowing a Providence man to fall from his hospital bed and, as a result, fracture his hip.

The jury awarded Leo R. Villegas $3.9 million and his wife, Frances, $1.09 million, both including interest, in rendering its verdict last Thursday, court records show.

The jury found that Roger Williams breached its standard of care by failing to activate Villegas's bed alarm after he was brought into the medical center after suffering a stroke in September 2005. It also found that the hospital failed to adequately train staff about patients posing a high risk of falling.

Roger Williams is seeking a new trial before Judge Judith C. Savage, arguing the evidence does not support the verdict, the hospital's lawyer William White said.

"The hospital is not responsible for the stroke," White said. "There is no evidence the hip fracture caused the stroke to advance." Villegas's injuries, he said, are related to the stroke and the jury's verdict amounts to payment for the stroke.

According to the Villegas's lawyer, Neil F.X. Kelly, Villegas was admitted to the hospital in September 2005 after suffering a mild stroke. He was assessed as a risk for falling and had a history of weakness on his left side.

Villegas was sent to the intensive care unit, where a bed alarm should have been activated that signaled nurses as well as the patient that he was attempting to get out of bed, Kelly said.

Villegas was given the sleeping medicine, Ambien, and believing he was home went to get out of bed to use the bathroom, Kelly said. The alarm had not been activated and Villegas fractured his left hip in the fall. He has since endured infections and nerve damage due to complications, said Kelly, a former assistant attorney general who went into private practice this winter.

Today, Villegas, a former maintenance supervisor at Raytheon, uses a wheelchair and is in chronic pain, Kelly said. He and his wife have been married 30 years, have grown children and live in Providence.

 Tags  negligence Providence RI Roger Williams Medical Center Superior Court

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