Hospital sets internal briefing on death of doctor in elevator

This doctor got decapitated! This is really scary.

Aug. 17, 2003, 10:32PM

Hospital sets internal briefing on death of doctor in elevator
By MIKE GLENN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Hitoshi Nikaidoh


Officials at Christus St. Joseph Hospital today will learn more about the death of a staff doctor who was killed over the weekend in a fatal elevator accident.

"We're having an internal briefing in the morning," hospital spokeswoman India Chumney Hancock said Sunday.

Hitoshi Nikaidoh, 35, of Dallas, a surgical resident at the downtown Houston hospital, was stepping into a second-floor elevator about 9:30 a.m. Saturday when the doors suddenly closed, pinning his shoulders. His head was severed when the elevator car moved upwards.

Hospital officials later today may release further information about the incident to the public following their closed-door briefing, Hancock said.

A female hospital employee witnessed the accident and spent about 20 minutes trapped inside the malfunctioning elevator until firefighters were able to rescue her. Although she wasn't injured, the traumatized employee was taken to the hospital's emergency room to be treated for shock.

"She was released that day," Hancock said. Officials declined to release further information about the woman, citing hospital privacy rules.

Houston police crime scene specialists took photographs and measurements of the scene. The information was passed to Harris County medical examiners who were still conducting their inquiry Sunday into the accident.

The entire elevator bank where Nikaidoh was killed was pulled from operation following the accident, but St. Joseph Hospital officials said the decision won't affect patient services.

"They'll be shut down indefinitely until we've completed our investigation," Hancock said.

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries 1992-1998, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, incidents with elevators and escalators kill about 30 and injure about 17,100 people each year in the United States.

The most common causes of death are falling into elevator shafts and getting stuck in or between elevator doors, and workers installing or repairing elevators make up more than half the deaths each year.



Reporter S.K. Bardwell contributed to this story .

 

I work at a hospital and the elevator to my floor misbehaves half the time. I'm gonna be more careful. (Even though it's my last day there tomorrow).

 

That's an awful way to go...

 

That's horrible. I'm definitely taking the stairs from now on.

 

Anyone seen the beginning of Resident Evil? Ugh.

 

Pooja: Ugh, don't remind me...

 

Oh my gosh. What a horrible way to die. Poor guy.

 

Well, the doctor wasn't totally decapitated, but he fell down the elevator shaft:

Aug. 19, 2003, 1:19AM

Experts probe elevator death
Autopsy disputes report of decapitation
By ALLAN TURNER and MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
As safety experts converged on Christus St. Joseph Hospital on Monday to scrutinize the malfunctioning elevator that killed a doctor over the weekend, mourners gathered just feet away in candle-lit meditation room to pray.

Twenty-six wilting bouquets surrounded an altar bearing a photo of Dr. Hitoshi Nikaidoh, 35, of Dallas, who was reported to have been decapitated when elevator doors closed, pinning his shoulders. On Monday, however, the Harris County medical examiner's office told the Associated Press that an autopsy showed the doctor died of multiple blunt force injuries to his head and body, and that part of his head was severed.

Rudy Flores, the medical examiner's spokesman, said the physician's body then fell down the elevator shaft to the basement. The death has been ruled an accident.

Memorial mass for Nikaidoh, who graduated this year from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, will be at 6:30 p.m. today at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

Nikaidoh was trapped between the doors of the cable-propelled elevator, then killed as the carriage ascended about 10 a.m. Saturday. At least two people witnessed the accident. One was trapped in the carriage for 20 minutes and later hospitalized for shock.

"All of us at Christus St. Joseph are deeply, deeply saddened by the tragic death of Dr. Nikaidoh," spokeswoman India Hancock said during an afternoon news conference. Hancock said grief counseling is being provided to hospital employees and a memorial service will be held at the hospital sometime after today's funeral services.

Hancock said the elevator in the hospital's George Strake Building was last inspected in July 2002 by Elevator Technical Services, a private inspection service under contract to the hospital. Another inspection was set for next month in keeping with a city requirement for annual inspection, Hancock said.

Susie Hartgrove, spokeswoman for the city's Planning and Development Department, which monitors such private inspections, said the hospital has no recent record of elevator problems.

Rick Walsh, an ETS inspector who previously has examined Elevator 14, described it as a "pretty old" cable-style Otis elevator. He was unable to say if it previously had experienced problems.

Walsh said he believes the elevator is equipped with a system of "electronic eyes" that automatically open the door if a passenger is detected blocking its path.

While the age of the faulty elevator was not available, a spokesman for the Strake Foundation said the George Strake Building is about 30 years old.

Kone Elevators, which maintains St. Joseph elevators, would not comment on Elevator 14's mechanical history. Hancock said she was uncertain of the elevator's history.

Don Berman, a licensed professional engineer from California who has served as an expert witness in lawsuits involving elevators, said the Houston incident appeared to involve interrelated problems.

"You've got multiple things going on," said Berman, who has handled major accident investigations in Texas. "You've got doors that shouldn't close if something is between them, and you've got a set of contacts in the door that should keep the elevator from moving if the doors are not closed."

Those two things can happen simultaneously if there is a problem with the electric voltage reaching the elevator's components, he said.

Berman said investigators should examine whether the company making the elevator had received related complaints.

Elevator fatalities are rare.

William Kuntz Jr., executive director of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which oversees elevator inspections in most state communities, said there had been no fatal elevator accidents in the state in at least four years. In Houston, such inspections are oversee

 

Wow. I am tempted to start reciting cheezy "loose your head" lines from Austen Powers, but this so shocking that I kinda lost my sense of humor. What an awful thing. Can you imagine being that person who witnessed this? Dear lord!

 

houstonpress.com

ok, this is not just about this guy, but also other elevator problems. Elevators are evil....

also, this story is about a woman who drowned on an elevator. houstonpress

 

Anyone seen the beginning of Resident Evil? Ugh.

Um... anyone seen 'Final Destination 2'?

 

that's terrible, so tragic

 

Um... anyone seen 'Final Destination 2'?

Yeah, that too.
Freak accidents suck.

 

I knew there was a reason I was terrified of elevators!!

Poor guy though. And what a way to go. That sure sucks.