By Peter Cameron
The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
OLD FORGE, Pa. — Following an “emotional, at times contentious” four-day trial, as the judge called it, the wife and daughter of an Old Forge man who died last year settled Thursday with the Dunmore ambulance company they accused of negligence in his death.
After Garrett A. Boynosky was found unresponsive at his North Main Street home on Jan. 25, 2016, employees from Pennsylvania Ambulance LLC, 1000 Dunham Ave., arrived and stopped police efforts to resuscitate him, believing he was dead. But two other employees from the company arrived minutes later and restored his heartbeat. He died a few days later at Geisinger Community Medical Center from congestive heart failure.
The 62-year-old man’s wife and daughter, Julianne and Nicole Boynosky, filed suit against the company in April 2016.
The amount of the settlement is confidential, Lackawanna County Judge Margaret Bisignani Moyle told the jurors before thanking and dismissing them.
The two sides reached an agreement that was “acceptable” to both, said Fred Buck, a Philadelphia-based defense attorney who represented Pennsylvania Ambulance. The Kingston law firm of Fellerman and Ciarimboli represented the plaintiffs.
The Boynoskys’ lawsuit alleged Pennsylvania Ambulance was grossly negligent for failing to properly train employees to assess patients. The two employees, Phillip Pizano and Stanley Wyshock, who were not named as defendants, committed several errors, the suit said, including interrupting chest compressions without first contacting medical command, which is a violation of Pennsylvania Emergency Medical Treatment protocols.
In his opening statement Monday, Buck said Boynosky’s pupils were fixed and dilated when the first ambulance arrived, indicating brain damage had already occurred.
“There is no possibility he could have been revived, even with the best medical care in the world,” he said.
Over the course of the trial, the defense and prosecution each called two expert witnesses to testify, attorney Edward Ciarimboli said. Pizano and the plaintiffs also took the stand.
Copyright 2017 The Times-Tribune