BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – A husband and wife doctor team is suing the city of Santa Monica, alleging negligent handling by city Fire Department members in the aftermath of the male physician’s fall at the family home in 2022 left him a quadriplegic.
Dr. Baldev Devgan, an 84-year-old ENT-otolaryngologist, and his wife, pathologist Dr. Manju Devgan, 79, filed the Beverly Hills Superior Court lawsuit on May 12, alleging medical and government entity negligence, elder abuse and neglect, loss of consortium and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The suit seeks unspecified damages.
A city of Santa Monica representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Baldev Devgan fell and hit his head on the bathtub in a second-floor bathroom at the family’s Santa Monica home about 5 a.m. April 27, 2022, and his wife called 911 after finding him lying on the floor, the suit states.
Concerned that her spouse may have sustained serious orthopedic injuries or brain trauma, Manju Devgan did not move him prior to the arrival of the Fire Department, the suit states. She told the EMTs that she was a medical doctor and that they needed to protect and stabilize her husband’s neck before moving him, according to the suit.
However, the EMTs responded that they “are professionals and you need to let us do our job,” then pushed her out of the bathroom, according to the suit.
The EMTs did not put a cervical spine immobilization collar onto Baldev Devgan or do something else to secure and protect his spine, according to the suit. Despite his wife’s warning, they made him sit up and tried to get him to stand, the suit states.
“They proceeded to sit him in a chair that was in the bathroom, all without taking adequate precautions to stabilize and protect his spine,” the suit alleges.
Baldev Devgan was then placed upright on a gurney and taken down flights of stairs in the house and outside “with a bouncing, jarring, motion with each step,” despite his protests of discomfort, the suit states. Later in the ambulance, the SMFD members ignored his requests to place support around and under him, the suit states.
Baldev Devgan was taken to UCLA Santa Monica Hospital and diagnosed with a serious neck injury, so a collar was put on him and he was told he needed immediate surgery, which was performed after he was transferred to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the suit states.
Baldev Devgan was diagnosed with cervical compression and a central spinal cord injury and he has been a quadriplegic ever since, the suit states. His wife alleges she has suffered a loss of consortium as well as emotional distress.