2 days ago
Family of woman killed inside UPMC Shadyside parking garage threatening lawsuit against health care giant
The family of a woman who died after she tried to exit the UPMC Shadyside hospital parking garage is threatening legal action if the company doesn't come forward with more information on the incident.
It was back in April when Terry Philips was taking her husband to a routine appointment at the hospital.
She got mixed up as to where she was supposed to park. What happened was an incident and accident that would eventually take her life, and now her family wants answers as to why it happened, and they're willing to take the health care giant to court to find out.
When Phillips tried to get a parking ticket to get out of the UPMC Shadyside garage on April 17, she found herself having to open her door to get the ticket to exit. Her foot was on the brake of her car. It slipped and moved forward, crushing the 79-year-old, slowly killing her.
"The husband was right here, he tragically saw the whole thing at one point, he wanted to try to start lifting the car off of his wife," said Matthew Scanlon, the family's attorney.
Phillips' family wants to know why it took so long for anyone to help, despite the accident taking place outside the hospital's front door.
"You have no medical care rendered for over 30 minutes, that's what's alarming and troubling," Scanlon said.
The family's been trying to get answers from the hospital.
"(UPMC) don't believe they are responsible for anything," Scanlon said.
Scanlon told KDKA-TV that he's asked for documents and video evidence to shed light on what happened.
According to Scanlon, he is ready to take UPMC to court soon.
"Thirty to 45 days is a reasonable time frame to file and move forward," Scanlon said.
KDKA-TV also reached out to UPMC for comment about the pending lawsuit, and is awaiting a response.
