Personal Injury Law

$1.8 Million Massachusetts Wrongful Death Settlement Reached Between For-Profit Methadone Clinic and Mother of 8-Year-Old Girl Killed in Marlboro Truck Crash

By Altman & Altman

Kayla Lackey?s mother Erin has reached a $1.8 million Massachusetts wrongful death agreement with Community Health Care Inc., a for-profit methadone clinic in Chicopee. Kayla was just 8 when she died in a Marlboro truck accident in April 2005 on Route 9. Stephen Fairchild, the driver of the pickup truck that struck the truck that Erin, Kayla, and two of her cousins were riding, was a patient at the clinic. He died from injuries he sustained during the truck crash.

Autopsy findings indicate that at the time of the head-on truck crash, Fairchild?s methadone level was ?peaking.? He also had recently used marijuana and cocaine.

In 2007, Kayla?s estate sued the clinic and Putney doctor Walter Slowinski over the Massachusetts truck crash that claimed the young girl?s life. Slowinski, who prescribed anti-anxiety medication to the Fairchild while he was taking methadone, settled with the estate earlier this year.

Fairchild, who had a history erratic driving and heroin addiction, also may have been taking trazodone and an anti-seizure drug. All of the drugs combined likely impaired his driving abilities on April 4, 2005.

According to the Massachusetts wrongful death complaint, the clinic failed to properly monitor the truck driver after giving him ?take-home? methadone bottles. The clinic is also accused of failing to make Fairchild take blood tests even though he exhibited physical signs of someone who was abusing drugs. He also missed required sessions, including meetings for counseling, and reported that his prescription drugs had been stolen or lost?another red flag.

Erin, who sustained a severe arm fracture, has ongoing medical bills from the truck crash. Kayla?s cousins, Jacob O?Hearn, then 12, and Joshua O?Hearn, then 4, did not sustain any physical injuries, but they were traumatized.

Mother of crash victim wins $1.8M from methadone clinic, Times Argus, April 10, 2010

Vermont woman awarded $1.8M from Massachusetts clinic, Boston Herald, April 9, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Community Healthcare of Chicopee MA

Wrongful Death, Nolo

Full post as published by Boston Injury Lawyer Blog on April 15, 2010 (boomark / email).