Defense Wins In Nursing Home Hoyer Lift Claim: In Massachusetts, the plaintiff brought a nursing home medical malpractice action as the administrator of the estate of his father, John B. Satiro, who died from complications of an injury to his inner thigh that he sustained while being transferred by a mechanical “Hoyer” lift at a skilled nursing facility in Massachusetts.

The plaintiff alleged that Satiro’s death was attributable to the nursing home’s negligence and that the other defendants were liable for any negligence that occurred within the facility because they were engaged in a joint venture of operating and managing the facility. The plaintiff’s medical causation expert, Dr. Joseph Micca, was not permitted to offer testimony at trial on the proper procedure to operate a Hoyer lift or any opinions as to whether the Hoyer lift used to transport Satiro was defective on the day he was injured. Following a six-day trial, a Superior Court judge granted the non-facility defendants’ motions for directed verdicts and a jury returned a verdict for the facility. The plaintiff subsequently appealed.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Appeals Court (“Massachusetts Appellate Court”) stated in its Memorandum and Order dated August 4, 2022, “Dr. Micca was an internal medicine physician who had practiced in nursing home settings for over twenty years. Even so, Dr. Micca testified that he had never operated or received training on how to operate a mechanical lift and that his opinions regarding the proper function and operation of a Hoyer lift had been informed by a YouTube video and a Hoyer lift instruction manual. Given Dr. Micca’s lack of education, training, and experience with the Hoyer lift, it was not an abuse of discretion or an error of law to preclude him from offering opinions on the operation or functioning of a Hoyer lift.”
The Massachusetts Appellate Court further stated, “There was likewise no abuse of discretion in precluding another of the plaintiff’s experts, licensed nursing home administrator Lance Youles, from testifying that the certified nursing assistants (CNAs) who executed Satiro’s transfer did so negligently. Youles’ report was devoid of any discussion of proper Hoyer lift operation or precisely what the CNAs did wrong during Satiro’s transfer. The only discernible bases for Youles’ opinion were Youles’ speculative beliefs that the facility was “poorly operated,” that “it was inevitable that a situation like this would occur,” and that the CNAs “unsafely acted at a point to which they could have got help” but failed to do so. Even assuming that that the facility was, in fact, “poorly operated” and that the CNAs had “unsafely acted,” there was no evidence that either of these factors caused the injury that led to Satiro’s death.”
Source Satiro v.  DES Senior Care Holdings, LLC, 21-P-211.

If you or a loved one suffered injuries (or worse) involving a Hoyer lift while a resident of a nursing home in Massachusetts, you should promptly find a nursing home claim lawyer in Massachusetts or in your state who may investigate your Hoyer lift nursing home claim for you and file a Hoyer lift claim on your behalf or behalf of your loved one, if appropriate.

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