Dr. Decapitated By Faulty Elevator At St Joseph Hospital

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

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Old Professer]

JCAHO is going to be real interested in this.

[Old Professer]

Safety recall?

[FITZ]

I will probably be accused of being an athiest troll, but I have to wonder where God is when horrible, stupid things like this happen.

God didn't make elevators. Between this and the power out in NY which left people trapped in elevators for hours, I'm taking the stairs from now on.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Interesting story - I don't blame you one bit. As a matter of fact, when this blackout hit, I mentioned to my teenage daughter (who has turned into a news junkie ;-), this is one of the reasons why I would never live or work, quite frankly, in a high rise - the elevators!!!

[Ciexyz]

Big lawsuit comin' down....deservedly so....

[Ciexyz]

Heard on the radio that this woman was in hysterics for those 15 to 20 minutes as the poor doctor's head was rolling around the floor of the elevator!

Big worker's comp claim coming....deservedly so. I can hear the claims adjusters now: "This is one for the record books."

[FixitGuy]

Whaddaya bet the door safety switch had been malfunctioning for some time and nobody said anything about it.

Amazing the tragedies caused by simple lack of attention to maintenance.

("Ya know...somebody oughta fix that"!)

[FITZ]

Hospitals are worse as corporations --- you can see a roomful of people discussing QA for two hours --- but no one actually doing it because management often aren't the ones doing any of the work. JACHO and inspections don't help everything because they'll see the documents of the meeting that took place but aren't there watching the way the employees really work.

[FITZ]

Sometimes maintenance is a cost area the hospital cuts first --- things the patient and visitor don't see. If they go for the cheapest worker, they might get someone who doesn't read or even speak English.

[FixitGuy]

"Sometimes maintenance is a cost area the hospital cuts first --- things the patient and visitor don't see."

Agree. But this little switch is about as basic to safe elevator operation as anything I can think of.

All the people that ignored it have few brain cells under their scrub hat.

If the hospital ignores this, one can easily report it to the city inspector....(If they have one)

My only point is, we all tend to ignore things thinking someone else will, "take care of it."

[Lady Jag]

Moral of the story: Always go foot first.

[bonesmccoy]

This is an OUTRAGE!

The Texas Medical Center is replete with executives who cheat, lie, and steal from the tax payers of the US.

Texas Medical Center includes the St. Joseph's Hospital. In fact, St. Joseph's Hospital and the Baylor College of Medicine people were sued by the Reagan Administration for violation of tax laws.

The fact of the matter is that Reagan's Administration tried to discipline these people and obviously failed.

If you think this sorry accident is a "fluke", guess again!

The Baylor College of Medicine people were charged with violation of IRS tax code and federal legislation was passed in order to halt the illegal conduct.

BCM's executives were passing money to doctors at a sister facility to the St. Joseph's hospital. According to federal court documents and legislation, the health care laws of the US were charged to prohibit hospitals from essentially bribing doctors for referrals to the hospital.

[bonesmccoy]

See post above... on Baylor's fraud

[SerpentDove]

mhPING

[bonesmccoy]

you should run the analysis on Baylor College of Medicine and the hospital involved with this accident. we can compare notes here and figure out how the tax payer's money has been stolen.

[Spunky]

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.

I am still trying to picture how his whole head was cut off.

It would seem to me if his shoulder's were pinned in the door and the elevator went up, it would slice him down the middle.

Was he leaning with his head in and the rest of his body out except the shoulders?

[SerpentDove]

>>Nope Baylor always settles out of court so they don't have to change any policies. They just throw money at the person threatening to sue hoping the problem will go away. <<

Tragic. I wonder if there is an extra-hot-spot in Hell for "caregivers" who don't give a care.

[jocon307]

From your name, it sounds like you would know!

My fave star-trek quote: I'm a doctor, not an escalator!

[GoRepGo]

Hitoshi Nikaidoh

Prayer bump to everyone involved in this tragedy.