An Alabama nurse was leaving her shift at the hospital and talking on the phone with her husband when a patient allegedly approached her in the parking lot and killed her, according to a new lawsuit.
Ada Chapman Doss, 27, worked as a nurse at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. On May 12, she was walking to the hospital’s south parking lot after work when she called her husband, Andrew Doss, as she normally did.
According to the lawsuit, the couple was talking about their workdays, dinner plans, and the evening routine for their two young daughters, a 6-month-old and a 2-year-old.
But moments later, the call turned horrifying.
The lawsuit claims that 41-year-old Matthew Taylor, a patient who had earlier been brought to the hospital’s emergency room during an alleged manic episode, was allowed to “roam freely” around the hospital campus while armed.
“Unbeknownst to” Doss, Taylor had been brought into the ER earlier that day by someone who said he was experiencing a manic episode, according to the complaint.
Doss’ estate alleges that the hospital and its security staff were warned about Taylor’s “manic and erratic behavior” but failed to properly assess the threat or locate him.
Taylor allegedly left the emergency room entrance area and spent hours moving around the campus unmonitored.
According to the lawsuit, no one found him even though he was “shirtless, shoeless and armed.”
It remains unclear where Taylor allegedly got the weapon.
That afternoon, as Doss walked toward her car while still on the phone with her husband, Taylor allegedly approached her with a gun.
The complaint says Doss’ voice suddenly filled with fear and panic. Her husband was still listening on the other end of the call.
According to the lawsuit, Andrew Doss heard his wife’s final words: “Please don’t, I have babies.”
Seconds later, Taylor allegedly shot and killed her.
The lawsuit names Taylor and the DCH Health Care Authority among the defendants. It claims wrongful death and negligence, alleging the hospital failed to protect Doss despite warning signs about Taylor’s behavior.
Doss’ husband and estate are seeking compensatory and punitive damages and have requested a jury trial.
Taylor was later arrested and indicted on charges of capital murder, first-degree robbery, and illegal possession of a firearm, according to local reports.
Sue and sue some more!!!
Want Justice in Amerika????
You gotta sue for it!!!
Never mind that this 41 year old imbecile scumbag was on the streets and not in an institution. On that one…..Amerika will NEVER get that figured out…. woke liberals won’t allow it.
Bend over DCH healthcare because you deserve a giant award up your rear end for that dereliction of duty to protect their own. That is a despicable failure to follow up to locate this manic patient who was shoeless, shirtless with a gun and not discharged from Hospital care.