The parents of a 15-year-old girl who collapsed at a College Park recreation center have sued Grady Memorial Hospital and its emergency services, alleging their daughter’s death “was completely preventable” if an ambulance had come.
Amanda Sylvester was pronounced dead at a hospital Dec. 5, 2024, more than two hours after she fell to the court during a volleyball practice warmup at the Tracey Wyatt Recreation Center and 911 was called, a lawsuit filed this week in Fulton County State Court says. The teen’s mother drove her to Children’s Hughes Spalding Hospital after Grady’s “failure to provide emergency transport or supply a transport-capable ambulance in response to multiple 911 calls,” the complaint alleges.
An autopsy determined the teen died of bilateral pulmonary emboli, a condition the lawsuit describes as “readily treatable if treatment is initiated in a timely fashion.”
The girl’s parents, Barbara and Anthony Sylvester, said in the complaint that they filed it “to seek justice for Mandy, and to ensure that other families do not suffer a similar preventable loss.”
In an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a Grady spokesperson said they were aware of the lawsuit and intend to respond through “the appropriate legal process.”
“Because federal and state privacy laws restrict what we may disclose regarding a patient’s medical care or protected health information, we are limited in our ability to comment on the allegations,” the spokesperson said.
The Sylvesters’ attorney, Liza Park with the Ben Crump Law firm, told the AJC by phone that Amanda had three older brothers. She described the family as active and athletic, and said Amanda was a talented student. The teen attended Southwest DeKalb High School.
Park said Grady was not in compliance with state law at the time of the incident. And the complaint outlines a timeline for what plaintiffs say unfolded that day.
The lawsuit alleges that 911 was called at 6:09 p.m., and a College Park 911 operator notified Grady dispatch of the need for an ambulance. At that time, the suit says, Grady knew it had no ground ambulances available to respond and took no steps to seek assistance from another ambulance service.
“When people call 911 and they say, ‘Do you need an ambulance?’ and you say ‘Yes,’ you expect that an ambulance is going to come,” Park said.
According to Georgia law and the filed complaint, if medics and a ground ambulance are not available, the ambulance service “shall request” aid so another provider can respond. Park said she and her team determined that Grady’s policy gave dispatchers discretion by stating that mutual aid “may be requested at the discretion of the 911 Communications Supervisor” when a ground ambulance is not available.
By 6:14 p.m., the lawsuit states that College Park’s rescue team arrived at the recreation center, and Amanda “was in respiratory distress and appeared to be having seizures.”
At 6:33 p.m., another 911 call was made requesting the ambulance’s status, and it was at that point that Grady told a supervisor at the center that no ambulances were available, the suit alleges.
The suit also says that College Park EMTs told the girl’s family their unit could not transport her. College Park’s rescue team and the EMTs are not named in the lawsuit.
Amanda was loaded into the back of her mother’s vehicle at 6:44 p.m., and they arrived at Children’s at 7:36 p.m., according to the complaint. An hour later, Amanda was pronounced dead.
“Between her collapse at or about 6:00 p.m., and her death at 8:36 p.m., Mandy suffered fright, terror and tremendous conscious pain and suffering,” the complaint states.
Park told the AJC that Grady did eventually dispatch an ambulance, but that happened 15 minutes after the second 911 call. The lawsuit alleges Grady canceled the call for emergency transport at 6:50 p.m., after Amanda had been put in her mother’s vehicle.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages for the injury, terror and suffering that Amanda allegedly endured, plus other damages and litigation costs. The family has demanded a jury trial.
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