Inspection Detail

Inspection: 316341056 - Nysdoccs Franklin Corr Fac

Inspection Information - Office: Nys Dol Pesh Utica

Investigation Summary

On August 1, 2012, Employee #1, a New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS) Education Supervisor, was interviewing an inmate in his office. When Employee #1 went to sit down in his chair, he missed the chair, fell to the floor (on his back) and hit his head on the floor. After the fall, Employee #1 said he could not feel his arms and legs and he was brought to Fletcher Allen Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont. He was put on a ventilator and was told that a bone spur, caused by advanced arthritis in his neck, had broken loose and severed his spinal cord. Employee #1 was informed by the attending physician that he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life. Employee #1 later asked that the ventilator be turned off, and it was. Employee #1 was pronounced dead on August 9, 2012.

Keywords: FRACTURE, HEAD, CHAIR, SPINE, FALL