Anesthesiologist, Who Works At Bethesda West, Says Hospital Unsafe.
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOYNTON BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Bethesda Hospital West is facing a major lawsuit by a doctor who says the facility is unsafe. That doctor — an anesthesiologist — allegedly slipped and fell near an operating room where he was scheduled to work. The doctor says he sustained critical injuries because Bethesda, owned by Baptist Health, didn’t keep the facility clean in a professional manner.
Attorneys for Dr. James Cerullo say he was on duty at a surgery center at Bethesda West, located at 9868 State Road 7 in Boynton Beach, on December 23, 2022. According to the suit, “at that time and place, while walking in an area outside the operating rooms, Dr. Cerullo slipped and fell on a wet, slippery, dangerous floor that had been mopped by an agent employee of Baptist. The wet, slippery, dangerous floor was in an area that Dr. Cerullo did not reasonably expect to be wet, slippery, or dangerous.”
“As a result of his slip and fall, Dr. Cerullo suffered serious and permanent injuries, and he endured multiple surgical procedures. As a direct and proximate result of Bethesda’s negligence, Dr. Cerullo suffered bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish, inconvenience, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization, medical nursing care and treatment, loss of earnings in the past, loss of ability to earn money in the future, and aggravation or activation of a previously existing condition. The losses are either permanent or continuing in nature and Plaintiff will suffer the losses in the future. Plaintiff has sustained a permanent injury within. reasonable degree of medical probability.”
The suit alleges that Baptist and Bethesda West owed the public a hospital in a “reasonably safe” condition, a non-slippery floor, and inspections by managers who are charged with ensuring that public and members of the medical staff remain safe while at work or in the hospital.
The suit seeks in excess of $50,000 which is the statutory minimum for filing a lawsuit in Palm Beach County circuit court. Bethesda has not responded to the suit as of Monday, October 14, 2024, through a filing processed by the Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts. Dr. Cerullo is represented by Michael Smith of the law firm of Lesser, Lesser, Landy, and Smith PLLC in West Palm Beach. You can read the complete lawsuit, below.
