BATON ROUGE – A Livingston Parish dental assistant is suing a Baton Rouge hospital and its employee after she allegedly tripped and fell on its premises, causing injuries to her ankle.
Victoria Pittman filed suit against Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, Inc. and Stephanie Knobloch Powers in the 19th Judicial Court on Nov. 2.
Pittman claims she was assisting with dental surgeries at Our Lady of the Lake on June 8 when she tripped over legs of an X-ray machine put in her path by Powers.
The plaintiff was going in and out of the operating room after each surgery to wash and sterilize her hands.
After the third surgery, she exited and re-entered the room and believes Powers moved the rolling X-ray machine against a wall near the entrance door of the operating room.
Pittman asserts the legs of the machine extended more than two feet outward from the machine and ran parallel to the ground, only a few inches up from the floor. The fall allegedly caused the plaintiff to break her right ankle.
The defendant is accused of failing to maintain a safe environment for surgeons and surgical assistants, failing to maintain a safe path of ingress and egress for surgeons and assistants, choosing to place a tripping hazard near a path of enter and exit and failing to warn of the tripping hazard.
An unspecified amount in damages is sought for painful ankle injuries, medical bills, prescription expenses, wage loss, potential loss of earnings, mental anguish, pain and suffering and emotional distress.
The plaintiff is represented by Hester R. Dornan of Kleinpeter and Schwartzberg, LLC.
The case has been assigned to Division D Judge Janice Clark.
Case no. 616730.