Home

  • Home
    • » e-Newsletters

Video recording at center of fire lawsuit

LTC Liability Monitor, May 5, 2005

Both sides in a nursing home lawsuit are using a video surveillance tape in an attempt to assign blame, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The tape shows what happened in the minutes after the fire alarm sounded at the National Healthcare Corp, on September 25, 2003. The fire killed 16 people.

In the video, firefighters spend five minutes looking around the first floor of the building, unaware of the fire on the second floor. After discovering the fire on the second floor, they ran back to the truck to put on their equipment, then began trying to rescue residents.

National Healthcare's defense team says the tape shows the firefighters created a needless delay when they rushed back to the truck to don their gear. Lawyers for the prosecution say the tape shows facility staff failed to immediately lead firefighter to the blaze, AP reported.

Most Popular