Lawsuit dismissed against doctor who declined to treat homeless woman after LPD arrest
A Lexington emergency medicine doctor who did not examine the injuries of a woman in the Saint Joseph East Emergency Room after an arrest left her injured has entered an agreed order to dismiss the claims, according to court documents.
On May 1, Dr. Timothy Anderson and Southeastern Emergency Physicians, LLC, were dismissed with prejudice as defendants from a lawsuit filed by Linda Trapp, according to court records.
When a case is dismissed with prejudice, the involved parties can not bring the matter before court in the future.
Anderson was working as an ER physician when 63-year-old Trapp was forcefully arrested by Lexington Police Department officers outside of the hospital in March 2022. Trapp immediately complained of her knee being broken after two officers took her to the ground, according to body camera footage.
The Lexington Police arrest of Trapp, an area homeless woman, gained local attention in April 2023 after footage showed hospital staff and police mocking the woman, and violently arresting her outside.
In her lawsuit, filed in March 2023, Trapp alleges she was the victim of wrongful arrest, emotional injury, severe bodily injuries and delayed medical treatment.
At any time after a complaint is filed, parties may jointly move to withhold proceedings to allow negotiations of a settlement or an agreement containing findings.
Attorneys for Trapp would not release details about a settlement.
Mark Nichols, the attorney for Anderson, did not return Herald-Leader requests for comment.
What happened the night of the arrest
Body camera footage from LPD officer Myles Foster, who responded to the hospital, shows how the incident unfolded from the time Trapp was in a hospital bed to when she was forcibly detained by officers outside the facility.
Trapp arrived at the hospital for a head injury after a fall, but needed a COVID-19 test in order to return to the Catholic Action Center where she was staying.
Hospital staff denied Trapp a test and called the police to have her removed. When Trapp was walking away from the hospital, officers shouted disparaging comments at Trapp and shooed her towards the road.
In some comments, staff and officers tell Trapp she did not bring a cane to the hospital.
“Go find ya a tree branch or something,” Foster can be heard saying. “There’s some good trees over there downtown.” The emergency room employee echoes the statement, telling Trapp to “go get ya a tree branch.”
Trapp calls the officer a liar, and then the officer can be seen quickly approaching Trapp.
Foster then ran toward her and took Trapp to the ground. Trapp immediately complained of injuries to her knee, and begged for an x-ray to be done, according to body camera footage.
Trapp alleged in a lawsuit that once she was taken back inside the hospital, she pleaded for an x-ray from Anderson, who is shown on body camera footage examining Trapp for about 19 seconds before saying, “You can do that (x-ray) with your doctor.”
Anderson then walks away.
Trapp was taken to the Fayette County Detention Center and an X-ray was done, which showed she had “acute proximal tibia/fibula fractures with malalignment,” according to court documents. She went to UK Hospital, where she had multiple surgeries to treat her injuries, according to her lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleges Anderson was medically negligent towards Trapp with his failure to examine her with a standard of care. By failing to do so, Trapp suffered, “serious, painful, and permanent injuries; she incurred necessary medical expenses; and she suffered great pain, and mental anguish.”
Trapp’s lawsuit is still pending against Foster and Lexington-Fayette County Urban Government.
