By EMS1 Staff
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — An ambulance crew and a patient who were seriously injured in an ambulance crash three years ago are still involved in an extended legal battle over insurance coverage.
FOX9.com reported that a drunk driver hit the Allina Health ambulance head-on, seriously injuring patient Laura Worely, paramedic Brian Nagel and driver Tim Daly.
Nagel fractured his skull, suffered traumatic brain injury and vision loss, shattered bones in his face and was in a coma for a week after the crash, according to the report. He is still unable to work after the crash.
Tim Daly broke a leg and both feet, injured a knee and had a severe concussion. Worely suffered a lacerated liver and had serious complications.
The drunk driver, according to police, was underinsured; only a fraction of the medical bills were covered for the EMS crew and patient.
“If they don’t have insurance or enough insurance, then your own policy will pay you for those extra bills,” Mark Kulda, with the Minnesota Insurance Federation, said.
However, all three have received hospital bills too high to be covered by basic insurance.
According to Nagel, Allina told him they were self-insured and had $2 million in coverage for underinsured motorists. However, Allina disputed the claim and filed a lawsuit to ask a judge to rule that its responsibility was to only pay the state-required minimum of $50,000.
A trial date is set for August 2018.