Car accidents in Tennessee often cause many families to have to reevaluate their lives and adjust to new injuries or loss of income. For those who have lost a loved one, the healing process can be a very difficult and lengthy one, as these kinds of accidents are oftentimes so senseless and awful. Sometimes, however, there are circumstances where there might have been a way to help a victim of a crash and those are perhaps the hardest to move forward from.
Just over two and a half years ago a mother lost her son due to a car crash in Tennessee, but she proceeded to move forward in a legal matter regarding his death, and not exactly because of the accident. The location of this fatal motor vehicle accident happened to be on a span of road between counties, giving the Metro dispatcher a decision to make about whose emergency medical team to call and request aid from. The team that arrived was allegedly “10 to 15 minutes away,” while two other teams were a reported “two or three minutes away.”
According to one source, the ambulances which were closer required a formal request before they could be sent out to help the victims of the crash. This kind of rule is what has likely caused much strife and distress for this young man’s mother. The territorial regulations reportedly have a “mutual aid” policy. This policy is for the instances when a situation such as this one is close enough to another county, a call for help could be made to the neighboring county.
Tennessee’s appellate court ruled against the mother’s case that the county had a duty to request the closer of the ambulances. For Tennessee residents who are dealing with a difficult situation similar to this one, working with an attorney cold help them should they wish to proceed with their case. While it cannot return a loved one, it may be able to begin the healing and help with the added financial burdens from the loss.
Source: The Tennessean, “Metro had no duty to summon closer ambulance for man after wreck,” Brian Haas, Nov. 24, 2012