HOUSTON — A former drilling operations company employee is claiming the company failed to bring him back to the U.S. for adequate medical care while he suffered from serious medical conditions on a work project in Africa.
Larry Ward filed a complaint March 16 in Harris County District Court against Benthic USA LLC and Tammy Jenkins alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.
According to his complaint, Ward began working as a geotechnical project manager for Benthic on May. 1, 2018. He alleges that Benthic held a workers' compensation insurance policy with Texas Mutual that was in effect from May 1, 2018, through June 29, 2019, and alleges the policy was left to expire without replacement coverage and leaving him without coverage from June 30, 2019, through June 29, 2020.
Ward alleges that while working on a company project in Africa in February of 2020, he was required to stay in Pemba, Mozambique and developed a urinary tract infection and schistosomiasis from parasites in the contaminated water supply. Ward claims the company failed to provide him with adequate medical care and to send him back to the U.S. to receive the necessary antibiotics for treatment.
He alleges due to lack of proper medical care he developed kidney failure, loss of control of his mental and physical faculties, received a blood transfusion that contained "life-altering blood pathogens" and suffered a fall that caused a laceration to the back of his head.
Ward seeks monetary relief of more than $1 million, interest and all other just relief. He is represented by Attorneys Michael Doyle, Patrick Dennis and Jeffrey Avery in Houston.
Harris County District Court case number 2021-15076