Dr. Decapitated By Faulty Elevator At St Joseph Hospital

Houston Chronicle ^ | August 17, 2003 | Peggy O'Hare

[demkicker]

An aspiring missionary doctor, who was voted by medical school classmates as the epitome of a good physician, was killed Saturday at Christus St. Joseph Hospital when an elevator malfunctioned, decapitating him, authorities said.

Hitoshi Nikaidoh, 35, of Dallas, a surgical resident at the hospital at 1919 La Branch, was stepping onto a second-floor elevator in the main building around 9:30 a.m. when the doors closed, pinning his shoulders, said Harold Jordan, an investigator with the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office. The elevator car then moved upward, severing the doctor's head, Jordan said.

"It is an unexpected and tragic loss," said Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh, Hitoshi's father, from his Dallas area home. "He is an outgoing and very caring person."

A woman who also works at the hospital was on the elevator at the time and witnessed the accident, police said. Because of the malfunction, she was trapped on the elevator for 15 or 20 minutes before firefighters were able to reach her, police said.

The woman was not injured, but was later taken to the emergency room because she was in shock, said Sgt. Kenneth Perkins of the Houston Police Department's Special Operations Division.

Nikaidoh was on duty at the time and wearing his doctor coat and surgical scrubs when the accident happened, Jordan said.

The scene was one of chaos when police and firefighters first arrived at the hospital, Perkins said. Medical personnel were in disbelief, some crying.

"They were trying to console one another. Just to see other people in disarray -- the looks on their faces pretty much told the whole story," he said.

Police have launched an investigation into the accident. St. Joseph Hospital officials have taken the entire elevator bank out of service, but normal patient services have not been interrupted.

Hospital officials would not answer any questions Saturday about the accident since the investigation has just begun. They also would not reveal the name of the elevator manufacturer.

One worker at the hospital said there had been problems in the past with these particular elevators and that maintenance crews had been trying to service them in the past week, Perkins said.

Nikaidoh was a member of the 2003 class of the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, where he previously served as Student InterCouncil President, the student-leader over six schools within the medical center.

He became a devout Christian while in medical school, his father said. He became a youth group leader and decided to become a missionary doctor.

Hospital spokeswoman India Chumney Hancock would not discuss Nikaidoh's background or how long he had been with the hospital. "In respect for the family, we're not giving out any information," she said Saturday.

"Since the investigation has just begun, we're not answering any questions at this time," she said.

Both city and state inspectors will review the fatal accident, said a licensed elevator inspector who served on the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Department advisory board.

"Annual inspections are required, and I'm familiar with that hospital building and know they have a contracted (maintenance) company," said Alan Van Nort, a member of the state's Elevators, Escalators and Related Equipment Advisory Board.

Van Nort said he also is familiar with another hospital elevator accident earlier this year that injured 14 passengers, including 12 patients, at the Intracare Hospital in the Texas Medical Center area. The elevator dropped several floors before jerking to a stop and broke several passengers' bones and hurt backs and necks.

But hospital elevators are not inspected any more intensely than office building elevators, Van Nort said.

"The city has primary responsibility for inspections, and then reports of any incident go to the state for review," he said.

Mignette Yvonne Dorsey, spokeswoman for the City of Houston Building Services, said the city would be tracking the inspections done by the City Planning Department's inspectors. But there was no specific inspection information available from the city Saturday night.

[this_ol_patriot]

JCAHO is going to be real interested in this.

Oh don't remind me, we're due. Time to remove all the junk from the hallways in the basement. Hehe, you know everything marked "parts on order".

[neb52]

My apologies, I know there use to be one. I have an email that talks about it being flooded a few years back. I would have to check when I get back to work Thursday.

[Lady Jag]

They really ARE knocked out. They're good looking dogs, what are they and how old in the photo, now?

[BellStar]

I read the long version in the paper today. Seems he was a new on fire for Christ, Christian! A baby was delivered,he went home!

[neb52]

I don't have figures, my hospital doesn't do the billing anymore, its done at the main branch.. The business services department was outsourced to EDS to handle the billing and collecting. So I don't know what the percentages are. I know the hospital I currently work in lost money for 10 years straight before Baylor took over and my understanding is it is still losing money. The city my Hospital is in has two parts to it and a hospital in each of those parts. the one I work in is in the old part of town. Which would consist of the poorer side of town and yes that would include immigrants (legal or illegal). I do deal with the ER a lot and yes there is a lot of hispanics that come through there. I don't know, nor do we really have a way of knowing if they are legal or not. Other than what type of identification they had.

All hospitals have to take patients that are coming in for an emergency(that is decided by the ER Admitting personal), Irregardless if they can pay a dime or not. At first we took anybody prior to 2003. In January 2003 we change this policy due to ER losing money. The ER billing is done separate by HillRom. The new policy for non-emergency patients is that you have to either pay your co-pay or pay a Medical Examination Fee of $250. This would be soften down to if you can just pay something, $1,5,10 or whatever. If you can't pay then you are given a pamplet to shows you how to get to the nearest County Hospital.

During our sign up for benefits, we were lectured on the two biggest reasons for rise in Medical Insurance. One is obvious and that is going to the ER for non-emergency problems, such as earaches. you don't know how many mothers drag in their kid at 02:00 in the morning with an earache the kid has had for 4 days. Then the mother gets pissed because she can't pay here co-pay, thus she is turned away. you well notice on your insurance that there is a big defference in the co-pay for a doctor visit, compared to an ER visit. Thus the cost of admitting a patient is more expensive in the ER than going to your Family Doctor. The second problem is being charged for something that you did not use of receive. Example, you go to your doctor's office and get checked out. What you are getting checked out usually requires an X-Ray, so the nurse checks it off. but lets say the doctor decides you don't need it. The nurse doesn't know that you didn't do the X-Ray, thus the charge remains on your file. When you go to check out and pay your co-pay, you problem don't scrutinize the bill since you are only paying $5 or 10 co-pay. even though the X-Ray may only cost $100, you mutiply that by 10,000 of insuranced people and it adds up. Things like that happen all the time.

Medical Insurance is changing so that you actually pay for the full charge using your insurance card that is tied to a health savings account that you manage. So this would put the ball in your court to scrutinize your bill to conserve how much you have in your account.

[Frank_2001]

"In respect for the family, we're not giving out any information"
Well, that's a smart move-avoid further upsetting the hospital's future OWNERS! What a horrible story... I'm generally no fan of trial lawyers, but not in this case...I hope the family finds the meanest shark in town and wins BIG!

[stlnative]

I read this thread earlier, right after it was posted today, then my hubby brought home a few movies from the video store and the first one he plugged in was "Final Destination 2" (he knew nothing about this Dr's death or story behind it.) I stopped watching after they had scene in it of a lady in the movie being killed the same way this Dr. died and the 2 people who were inside the elevator (in the movie) freaked out also. It was horrible to read about and then see the same thing being played out in a movie on the same day. (too freaken weird and the movie what I saw of it was full of nothing but horrible deaths)

[weegee]

And after reading this, I'll not try to jump on and beat the closing doors of elevators ever again!

Good advice. I was in Cleveland on an elevator in a hotel. The doors were just about to close when an elderly arm came in to stop them from closing. It was Red Skelton. No harm but elevators aren't all the same.

[weegee]

I can't find a picture of "the hammer"...

[cherry]

"And then there are the evil ones who live to ripe old ages,"

oh, that is so true, it seems....

we just lost two farm boys who were killed in a freak silo accident, and while I don't wish death to any person (usually) I just had to wonder why its always the good farm kids who meet an early end....with so much trash running around with 10 earrings and no job and an attitude....

[Sir_Ed]

" You know, when a major corporation so grossly mistreats someone, or a bunch of someones, it DOES keep going around until it comes back to bite them. I promise you Circus-Circus won't be getting my business."

Thanks...we tell everyone we know what happened. I've never been treated so poorly by a corporation.

Ed

[CyberAnt]

Never put your body, your arms or your legs in between the doors of an elevator to force them open again. This is how this "accident" happens. I've heard of people sticking their arm between the doors thinking it would keep the doors from closing, and the person lost his arm.

Stupid move people - don't do it!!

[UncleDudley]

During our sign up for benefits, we were lectured on the two biggest reasons for rise in Medical Insurance.

I have read that insurance rates are going up to cover the cost of illegal aliens using the ER. Agreements between government, hospitals and insurance companies have led to increased rates to defray the unpaid ER costs.

Your post #166, is interesting, BTW.

[UncleDudley]

I don't mean they don't spend money. They don't spend it corrrectly.

IMO, This style of weak management is hurting the once good reputation of the medical services in general. There is a draught of good leadership in the USA. We are ruled by moral midgets at all levels. And hospitals are no exception.

[lorrainer]

Isn't this from The Shining?

Yes. I am sorry, but it's the first thing that came to mind.

[brianl703]

How many years out of date are the elevator inspection certificates?

[happygrl]

It is disturbingly appropriate.

I only saw that movie once, but the visuals left an indelible imprint on my mind as you can see.

[lorrainer]

I have seen it often, and the 2 little girls creep me out no end.

[Moonman62]

I also called the newspapers, but no one was interested. They said people get stuck in elevators all the time.

They would have been interested if someone died ( or you could have told them that the fireman who rescued you was a homo ). But if they do a story that could prevent somebody from dying, then they are ruining their chances for a future big story.