MIAMI — Dr. Gilbert Beauperthuy-Rojas, an orthopedic surgeon, remained hospitalized on Monday afternoon after a driver struck him while he was cycling in Miami’s Virginia Key.
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Miami Fire Rescue personnel rushed Beauperthuy-Rojas, 63, to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center after the collision on Saturday morning on the Rickenbacker Causeway.
“He has some liver and kidney lacerations. He had cuts all over his body. He has a spinal cord injury. So far, the indications are that he has no movement or ability to move from the waist down,” said his brother-in-law, Carlos G. Mendia, of Key Biscayne.
Mendia, 62, said Beauperthuy-Rojas, an avid cyclist who got him into cycling in 2010, was riding alone in the designated bicycle lane when the driver of a sports utility vehicle struck him.
“It’s extremely dangerous. I plead with the officials, public officials, to find a solution to this,” Mendi said about the dangers of cycling on the Rickenbacker Causeway. “This is senseless.”
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For decades, Beauperthuy-Rojas, of the HCA Florida Mercy Hospital, had been treating patients who had suffered from sports injuries and degenerative conditions. He is the former president of the Miami Orthopaedic Society.
“They not only describe him as a great physician, but a great person,” Henry Garcia, a spokesman for the HCA Florida Mercy Hospital, said about his colleagues.
The Miami Police Department was still investigating the cause of the crash on Monday afternoon. The driver was cooperating, according to police.
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