Palatka woman sues Putnam County Hospital.

Jan. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- Gainesville, Fla. - January 16, 2012- Palatka resident Dyvora Williams filed  a lawsuit against Putnam Community Medical Center for injuries she sustained while waiting in the hospital’s emergency room with her then-4-month-old daughter, I’mani.
Late one night in April 2008, Williams rushed her daughter to the medical center seeking treatment for the baby’s high fever. When I’mani spit out her pacifier, Williams reached between the waiting room chairs to try to retrieve it. Unfortunately, there was no room in between the chairs for her to get her arm out.
She remained on the floor for about three and a half hours, her knee wedged against the metal chair leg and her right arm and part of her chest stuck between the chairs as hospital staff refused to assist her, she said. Williams tried to free herself, but the chairs were bolted to the floor. Emergency room staff repeatedly denied her requests to call 911 for help.
“I only have use of my right side [because of Cerebral Palsy] and my right side was stuck. I even asked someone to hand me my cell phone so I could dial 911 with my tongue,” Williams said.
About 10 people surrounded her, trying to help, until finally a member of hospital staff stepped outside to call the fire department for her. A woman at the hospital administration desk called Williams’ mother so she could care for I’mani.
Williams began to experience pain and popping in her right knee after the incident. Numbness in her right arm has twice caused her to drop her daughter, she said.
Nearly four years later, Williams still walks with a cane. She has had two surgeries on her knee, but since they have not resolved her pain, she faces a possible knee replacement. She fell while walking her daughter to daycare this week because her knee gave out, so her doctor prescribed knee braces to help stabilize her. Williams does not want to have surgery on her arm to correct the numbness and popping because she fears she will not be able to take care of her child if something goes wrong with the surgery or during recovery, she said.

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