Beloved emergency room doctor and dad dead after freak middle-of-the-night fall down basement stairs

Detailed summary

Dr James 'Junior' Turpin, 53, died on Wednesday evening after falling down his basement steps at his Harrodsburg, Kentucky, home on Sunday morning.

Published: 15:59 GMT, 14 November 2026 | Updated: 16:00 GMT, 14 November 2026

A beloved emergency room doctor died after accidentally falling down the basement stairs on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Dr James 'Junior' Turpin, 53, died on Wednesday evening after falling down his basement steps at his Harrodsburg, Kentucky, home on Sunday morning.

The doctor suffered serious injuries, and he was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries days later, friend and colleague Dr Eric Guerrant told WKYT.

He leaves behind a son, Jon, a wife, Amy, and his mother, Barbara, his obituary said.

Friends and family remember Turpin as a person with a unique ability to make any bad situation better.

'When James walked into the room, no matter the circumstances, you knew things were going to be okay,' Guerrant told WKYT.

He recalled a time Turpin made bracelets that said 'here to help' on them.

'We all thought it was sort of goofy, but that was James, and we all wore the bracelets, and that changed the whole demeanor of the practice for that year during that tough time,' Guerrant said, who said Turpin's purpose was 'being a gift to other people.'

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