By EMS1 Staff
MADISON, Wis. — A jury trial will determine how much a hospital’s insurance company should pay the parents of a doctor who died after an ambulance crash in 2013.
The trial, which began this week, will attempt to determine how much pain and suffering Dr. Stanley Phillips III endured following the July 10, 2013 crash.
Philips and three other responders were transporting an infant to the hospital when the ambulance crashed.
Ross Fleming, a Meriter Hospital employee who was driving the ambulance, lost control of the vehicle. He said he was unable to avoid a culvert in the road, causing the ambulance to flip on its side. He was fined $213.
Phillips’ parents argue their son suffered in pain immediately after the crash, said their attorney Jeffrey Zirgibel in court on Monday. They also state that they’ve lost money that their son would have given them in their retirement , reported the Wisconsin State Journal. An economist stated that Phillips would have earned between $12 and $16 million during his parents’ lifetime.
“His intent was to help take care of his parents and take care of the infants of this world,” Zirgibel said.
However, the hospital’s insurance attorney Barrett Corneille, argued Phillips was too seriously injured in the crash to suffer, and it was not clear he intended to help his parents financially.
Meriter’s insurance company had previously agreed to pay for Phillips’ medical bills, funeral costs and an amount for loss of companionship. The jury will decide if additional payments for pain and suffering and loss of financial support should be made.
The trial is expected to last through Friday.