Bachelorette Party Leaves Bride Paralyzed
Bachelorette parties are supposed to be a bride's last fling before she gets her ring featuring drinking and dancing with best friends. Tragedy struck at a recent bachelorette party when the bride to be was playfully pushed in a pool. The bride was paralyzed after she fell into the shallow water head first.
Rachel Friedman, 25, was left paralyzed after fracturing her C6 vertebra -- an injury that her doctors think will prevent her from walking again. The paralyzed bride to be is in remarkably high spirits and does not plan to seek any type of legal recourse. She recently appeared on the Today Show with her fiance, Chris Chapman.
I didn't have to forgive her; I never blamed her in the first place. It was a freak accident," Friedman said about her friend, MSNBC reported. If she had considered blaming or suing her friend, Friedman might have pursued a negligence argument. She, essentially, would have had to argue that the friend was aware or should have been aware of the shallowness of the pool. But that doesn't appear necessary at this point.
Friedman still plans to get married (and invite the friend that pushed her into the pool) to her eventual wedding. For now, wedding plans have been delayed partly for financial reasons. Her combined income with her finance would have disqualified her for some much-needed disability insurance. "I knew he'd be there for me. If the roles were reversed I'd be there for him," Friedman told Today Show host Merideth Vieira about Chapman.
Related Resources:
- Paralyzed Bachelorette Still Determined To Get Married (CNN)
- Negligence (FindLaw)
- Elements of a Negligence Case (FindLaw)