Jury Awards Nurse $3.2 Million For Severe Electric Shock

A Massachusetts jury recently awarded a nurse $3.2 million after she suffered a severe electric shock. Here is a summary of the facts of the case:

A nurse suffered an electrical shock, which severely injured her, when she was trying to plug in an oxygen container for a patient at a nursing home where she worked; a month earlier another nurse had filled out a repair order for an outlet in that room, reporting that sparks came out of it when she tried to plug in a lamp; a repairman had looked at the outlet on the other side of the room and had replaced a light, but did not speak to the nurse to determine which outlet was sparking.

The nurse’s injuries included “violent seizures,” “unconsciousness for eight to ten minutes” and “paralysis on the left side of her face.” The nurse currently suffers from “deep depression” is now unable to drive more than very short distances, because she easily gets lost.

The jury issued the award after finding “the nursing home vicariously liable for the repairman’s negligence.”

The case is Doe v. Comprehensive Addiction Programs, Inc.