Doctor beheaded in lift accident as colleague watches in horror at hospital

Irish Daily Mirror

4 days ago

A colleague was left in shock as a doctor was beheaded by a lift in a horrific hospital accident.
Hitoshi Nikaidoh, 35, was entering a second-floor lift at Christus St. Joseph Hospital, in Houston, Texas, the US, when the doors abruptly closed, trapping his shoulders. His head was severed when the lift ascended.
A hospital worker witnessed the terrifying incident and spent approximately 20 minutes trapped inside the lift with the surgical resident's body before firefighters could rescue her. According to hospital spokesperson India Chumney Hancock, the woman who saw the horrifying tragedy was treated in the hospital's A&E department.
Harris County medical examiners conducted an investigation into the incident and police stated that maintenance crews had serviced the lift earlier in the week. The entire bank of lifts stopped operating while the investigation took place.
Dr Niakaidoh was born in Japan and relocated with his family to Connecticut as a child. He graduated from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School in June 2003, following his father's path into the field of surgery, reports the Mirror.
The investigation discovered a single extra wire was the cause of the accident in lift 14 where Dr Nikaidoh lost his life.
If the lift had been correctly configured, only a single wire, not two, would have been connected to one of the numerous controller studs in the elevator control system. The vacant space would have allowed the sensors to operate properly and the victim would have been freed without any harm done.
Whilst the mispositioned wire was deemed the primary cause of Nikaidoh's death, worryingly, it was just one of several instances of negligent maintenance work on Elevator 14.
In his investigation into the lift, Chief Elevator Inspector Ron Steele from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation discovered no less than 22 code violations. The lift was also a month late for its yearly inspection.
Fire House reported lifts and escalators kill approximately 30 and injure around 17,100 individuals each year in the United States, according to data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Historical records attribute the construction of the first elevator to the ancient Greek engineer and inventor Archimedes. It is thought he created a rudimentary design using hemp rope and manual power in the year 236 B.C..
Since then, the design and technology has advanced and while lifts are seen today as a relatively safe mode of transport, problems still occasionally occur.
According to Crieff Law Firm, only one in 12 million lift journeys is estimated to encounter a problem. Even then, the majority of those problems tend to be issues like sticking doors and forgetful buttons.
The law firm stated that statistically speaking, you are far more likely to be injured or killed by a slip and fall accident on a set of stairs than by a ride in a lift.