Comcast Facing Lawsuit Over Grandmother Death
BOYNTON BEACH (CBS4) - Cable Provider Comcast is facing a lawsuit from the family of an elderly woman who says an operator failed to come to her rescue as she bled to death in her Boynton Beach home.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is reporting Sidell Reiner, 81, dialed "0" for an operator after she cut her foot on a piece of crystal glassware as she was preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.
The phone operator could not pull up Reiner's address as she lay on the floor of her home in agonizing pain.
More than an hour later, Reiner's husband of 62 years arrived home with one of their grandchildren and discovered his wife's lifeless body.
Seymour Reiner filed the lawsuit last week in Palm Beach County Circuit Court against Comcast, and has notices of intent to sue the city of Boynton Beach and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.
According to the lawsuit, when Reiner phoned the operator on November 26, 2009, the call was transferred to a Boynton Beach police dispatcher.
The phone operator was unable to locate Reiner's address and give it to the emergency dispatcher.
It took roughly 16 minutes for the dispatcher to establish Reiner's home, which was determined to be in unincorporated Palm Beach County.
Fire Rescue records show that county paramedics rushed to the home, but left and deemed the call as "unfounded" after no one answered the locked door and crews could not gain access or a clear view through the windows.
"Nobody took responsibility in saving her," said Gary Cohen, the family's attorney. "No one went that extra mile and did what they needed to do."
Cohen says the urgency of the call should have been relayed to rescue crews trying to get into the home.
"This was a life-deciding call and there doesn't seem to be a lot of communication that this is a desperate situation," Cohen said.
Seymour Reiner says he is bringing the lawsuit to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.
Reiner is seeking unspecified damages.
Source: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
