The family of the man who died in an apartment fire in Salt Lake City in 2022 is suing the hospice provider whose client started the blaze, according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
Rocky Mountain Hospice should have known that its tenant living in the Silverado building at 243 S. 300 E. in Central City was so addicted to smoking cigarettes that he was likely to ignite the oxygen tank he relied on to live, according to the complaint, which was filed in the Third Judicial Court in Salt Lake County.
David Richards died after trying to escape from the fire at the Silverado, suffering from burns on over 60 percent of his body before dying after two days in the hospital.
Richards’ family and another friend in the building who was injured, Eli Bendoski, are seeking damages from Rocky Mountain Hospice, which is owned by Vali Division of Wasatch.
“It is difficult to imagine the severity of pain and suffering that Richards must have experienced during the 42.5 hours before he died from burn trauma and smoke inhalation,” the lawsuit says.
Vali Division of Wasatch didn’t respond to a request for comment about the fire or lawsuit.
The tenant was discharged from the hospital into hospice care in May 2022. Three days later, his cigarette ignited a series of explosions from his oxygen tanks in the apartment, lighting the apartment on fire.
“RMH knew that its home hospice patient…was dependent on continuous oxygen and that he was an active smoker,” the complaint says. “Despite this foreknowledge, RMH enabled and allowed its patient to engage in foreseeably dangerous conduct that RMH knew or should have known was taking place, which endangered the Silverado’s tenants.”
Residents woke up to the sounds of oxygen tanks exploding at around 2 a.m. on May 30, 2022. They had minutes to escape.
Richards died two days later from smoke inhalation.
According to the complaint: Rocky Mountain Hospice knew that its tenant was highly dependant on oxygen and that he had been a chain smoker for five decades and continued smoking while on oxygen.
“On May 28, RMH’s hospice nurse noted that she visited [the tenant] because he could not breathe and the nurse discovered that his oxygen cord was kinked,” the complaint says. “While there, the nurse again noticed that [the tenant] had cigarettes in his shirt pocket, noting again that he should not smoke while wearing his oxygen and that it could be very dangerous and also start a fire.”
Fire investigators found the fire likely started on the southwest corner of the first floor and was caused by the tenant on oxygen.
The tenant who likely started the fire was found burned on the balcony, the lawsuit says.
“RMH was in the best position to do something about its patient’s foreseeably dangerous conduct,” the complaint says. “Yet RMH failed to remedy the foreseeably hazardous condition and enabled [the tenant’s] conduct to continue until it was too late.”
A friend in the building who was fleeing the flames found Richards’ badly burned naked body near the front doors of the apartment building, indicating Richards fell while attempting to escape the fire.
The lawsuit accuses Rocky Mountain Hospice of wrongful deaths, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The plaintiffs have previously unsuccessfully attempted to sue Rocky Mountain Hospice. They appeared before the Division of Professional Licensing earlier this month and received approval to move forward with the newly filed lawsuit.
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