Don't use gardening stools as shower chairs!
A man is dead after what looks like an accident involving a garden stool that found its way into the shower and tore his leg apart.
To explain exactly what happened, we need to take a few steps back. Larry and Lori Stick were a happy couple from Philly with two kids and a comfortable life. Lori loved watching HGTV, and one night they gave her an odd tip. According to whatever show she was watching, outside garden stools could be used as shower chairs as well!
It's one of those strange tips that seems innocent enough, although it is a bit silly. I suppose you can also use the step-ladder in your garage as a shower chair. Do you really want to, though?
Regardless, the Stick family began using their gardening stool as a shower chair, and it wasn't long before something went wrong. Only two weeks after putting this seemingly innocuous tip to use, Lori came home to find her husband dead in the shower, surrounded by blood and a shattered garden stool.
After an autopsy, the coroner determined that Larry had put his right knee on the top of the stool during the shower, pushed down, and caused the stool to collapse. Shards of it flew up into his leg and thigh, slicing through his femoral artery. It's estimated that he would've lost consciousness within thirty seconds due to the blood loss, and died soon afterwards.
Lori has charged the furniture retailer who sold her the stool, Safavieh, with negligence that caused her husband's death. According to her filing, the stool was defective because there was never anything they did outside of what you'd expect to be able to do with a stool. Larry was 175 pounds, so certainly not overweight. On top of that, the stool came with no instructions or clarifications on where to use it. It never said "don't apply pressure with your knee or the stool may shatter", and it never mentioned anything about water having a corrosive effect on it or weakening it.
As of right now, there seems to be no filing against HGTV for offering the tip in the first place, but it remains to be seen if that will happen. Since the stool was used outside of its intended purpose, this will be a complicated case. If Lori and her family ever see justice for Larry's death, it will be after years of legal battles. That poor family has enough to suffer through without having to worry about money right now, which is where Simia really does save lives. A pre-settlement funding plan can set this family up so that they can weather the storm of Larry's passing and get to a point where they're financially stable enough to begin moving forward.
In any event, we'll keep you updated on the status of this case, and we hope that the stick family finds peace.
