[Lazamataz]

This is a HUGE lawsuit in the making. And how come elevator door motors are strong enough to decapitate???

[Servant of the Nine]

how come elevator door motors are strong enough to decapitate???

They aren't, but the lift motors are and when the elevator went up, he was sliced.

SO9

[demkicker]

This is a HUGE lawsuit in the making. And how come elevator door motors are strong enough to decapitate???

Amen, brother. I can't imagine how this happened. The whole thing went haywire I suppose, and the elevator took off extremely fast to have severed his head.

[supercat]

And how come elevator door motors are strong enough to decapitate???

Are you joking!? Even a small elevator will have a 1,000lb capacity; most hospital elevators are probably closer to 3,000lbs. The only way an elevator is going to be able to lift 3,000lbs is if the motor and counterweight together can put 3,000lbs of upward force on the car. If a 3,000lb-capacity elevator has 500lbs of people in it, that means that there will be 2,500lbs of force available to damage anything that gets stuck.

I suppose it would be possible to construct an elevator with a scale on the floor to decide--before starting the elevator--how much force will be considered "acceptable", but a simpler approach would be to simply have door switches that actually work.