Hospital patient dies in elevator accident
By Matt Scallan
A
76-year-old man on his way to surgery was killed when an elevator crushed him
Monday at
L.A. Brown
of Kenner was being moved on a gurney from the hospital's fourth floor to the
second floor. As the attendant pulled the gurney from the elevator, the
elevator car dropped several feet, pinning Brown's legs between the roof of the
car and the gurney, said Capt. Steve Caraway, a Kenner Police Department
spokesman.
The investigation
is continuing, Caraway said.
"We're
deeply saddened by the tragic turn of events, and our thoughts and prayers are
with the patient and his family," said Debbie Keel, the hospital's chief
executive officer. "We take any loss very seriously and are carefully
examining the circumstances of this tragic accident."
Hospital
officials would not release further information about Brown, citing patient
confidentiality laws. But relatives and neighbors said he was hospitalized more
than a week ago for dehydration. Stephanie Brown, his granddaughter, said
doctors told a relative that Brown was scheduled for exploratory surgery for a
tumor in his colon.
Brown's
son, Leroy Brown Jr., said his father was a retired railroad and construction
worker who loved to fish.
"We
had to use a lot of special equipment to do this while making sure no one else
was hurt, but it's the kind of thing that we train for," Zito said.
The
attendant moving Brown from the elevator was not hurt.
The eight
Otis-brand elevators in the Tenet-owned hospital were inspected in January by
Schindler Elevator Corp., a hospital contractor. In documents filed with the
city of
"Even
though this inspection has been performed, it does not ensure that every defect
that could exist in the equipment has been found," Schindler concluded in
its inspection report.
Caraway
said elevator technicians were already at the hospital when police arrived
Monday morning. He said the hospital might have called for service before the
accident occurred.