LEBANON, Ky -- A Campbellsville man is suing because he says an ambulance service caused his wife's death.
The lawsuit says the Campbellsville Taylor County EMS was grossly negligent for running out of oxygen while transporting Lillie Sherrill to Louisville in Dec. 2010. Sherrill was headed to Norton Healthcare for further pneumonia treatment.
Lillie was placed on a ventilator when she got to Norton, according to Tommy Sherrill and his attorney. She died 11 days later, on Jan. 10, 2011. Sherrill says doctors told her she would recover from the pneumonia two weeks after the transfer from Taylor Regional Hospital in Campbellsville.
A preliminary report from the EMS states the ambulance had to change its course to Norton and divert to Hardin Memorial Hospital because it had been exhausted of oxygen. Tommy Sherrill says his wife eventually reached Norton hours later.
"When she come off the ambulance, she was like going into shock," he remembers. "She didn't know us or [anything]. She was shaking all over. I never did get to say [anything] else to her, because she didn't know me after that," said Sherrill.
Tommy Sherrill is now preparing to fight for his wife's life in a Taylor County Courtroom.
The lawsuit was filed on the last day before the statute of limitations ran out in Dec. of 2011. It asks for exemplary and punitive damages but doesn't specify and amount of money.
"It is incomprehensible and inexcusable that an ambulance can run out of oxygen in this situation," said Tommy's attorney, Jim Avritt, Jr., who filed the lawsuit.
Avritt, Jr. and Sherrill believe Lillie was without oxygen for up to 20 minutes when the ambulance ran out 10 to 15 miles outside Campbellsville.
They contend a shorter route would have been to take Lillie back to Taylor Regional Hospital in Campbellsville rather than Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown, though they said they are not sure where the ambulance ran out of oxygen.
"Had one or more persons done their job appropriately and checked to make sure the ambulance had oxygen, we wouldn't be sitting here today," added Avritt, Jr.
"I can't get the truth [about] what happened in that ambulance," added Sherrill, who says he's become emotionally and financially stressed following his wife's death. "I'm sorry this happened. I've done everything i could to save my wife's life."
Neither the Campbellsville city attorney nor the head of Campbellsville Taylor County EMS could be reached for comment.
Avritt, Jr. said there have been no serious discussions to settle the case, and he said he's prepared to go to trial.
