AP Photo / Tammie ArroyoEd McMahon has come up with a way to ease his financial pain.
The 85-year-old TV icon has sued a number of people connected in one way or another to the 2007 fall that resulted in his broken neck, an injury that he says has required three surgeries and left him unable to work (the main reason he's given for his recent money troubles).
McMahon filed a lawsuit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court charging Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; the hospital's attending ER physician when he was first admitted; the orthopedic surgeon who oversaw his spinal care; and billionaire investor Robert Day and his wife Kelly, the owners of the home where he fell down, with a variety of offenses, including negligence, premises liability, battery, fraud and elder abuse.
According to the complaint obtained by E! News, McMahon fell face down "while attempting to climb unsafe entry stairs" at the Days' Bel-Air estate March 7, 2007.
He was unable to break his fall "as he futilely reached for nonexistent handrails," resulting in deep lacerations on his face and forehead, as well as what turned out to be a C2 odontoid fracture, or, broken neck.
Johnny Carson's former right-hand man further alleges that, after he was taken to Cedars via ambulance, defendant Dr. Cherline Johnson failed to order an X-ray of his cervical spine despite McMahon's complaints of severe neck pain and his "clinical presentation consistent with a high probability of having suffered a certain type of spinal fracture common in elderly people involved in a fall of this nature."
The break wasn't discovered until two weeks later when McMahon's cardiologist ordered an X-ray, the suit states.
Then, he contends, his first operation—performed by the director of orthopedic surgery for the Cedars-Sinai Institute of Spinal Disorders—didn't take, due to a variety of reasons, including the delayed diagnosis and the use of "off label" titanium screws and a non-FDA approved protein during the procedure.
Another surgery performed in the same department on Feb. 4, 2008, failed for "essentially the same reasons" and ultimately caused McMahon "disabling and excruciating pain."
Finally, doctors performed a third surgery July 11, 2008.
The trio of procedures and the insufficient care he received from Cedars before and after have left McMahon with "permanent and significant injuries" and caused him "substantial financial, emotional and physical damages," the suit states.
The complaint doesn't specify the amount of damages McMahon is seeking, but in an attached letter addressed to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neelakantan Anand, the plaintiff's counsel informs the defendant that, "assuming you carry the minimum [insurance] limits required by [Cedars] by-laws of $1 million per claim, you do not have anywhere near enough insurance coverage for the McMahons' claims given the size of Ed's economic losses alone due to his inability to work."