Disturbing death of surgeon ‘decapitated’ after getting head trapped in broken lift

WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: A doctor was decapitated by a lift in a gruesome hospital accident where his colleague was forced to watch on in horror as she was trapped inside with his remains

It is the stuff of nightmares. Surgeon Hitoshi Nikaidoh, 35, stepped into a second-floor elevator at St Joseph Hospital, Houston, Texas, in 2003, when the doors closed suddenly.

It pinned his shoulders, and tragically severed his head when the lift moved upwards. So what really happened?

A hospital employee unfortunately witnessed the whole thing and spent 20 minutes trapped inside the lift, and would have had to wait in full view of the bloody scene.

The woman, India Chumney Hancock, was taken to hospital to be treated with shock, but was not injured herself.

Examiners later found crews had worked on the lift earlier in the week, and the entire bank of elevators ceased operating while the probe was carried out. Dr Niakaidoh was born in Japan before moving to Connecticut as a child.

He graduated from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School in June 2003, following in his father’s footsteps into the field of surgery. The investigation found a single extra wire was the cause of the accident in elevator 14 where Dr Nikaidoh was killed.

If the configuration of the lift had been correct, only one wire and not two would have been connected to one of the many controller studs in the elevator control system.

The empty space would have enabled the sensors to function properly and the victim would have been released with no harm inflicted.

While the misplaced wire was ruled as the predominant cause of Nikaidoh’s death, it turned out to be only one of several examples of negligent maintenance work on Elevator 14.

During the course of his investigation into the lift, Chief Elevator Inspector Ron Steele of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation uncovered no fewer than 22 code violations. The lift was also a month overdue for its annual inspection.

The hospital was owned by Christus Health until 2006 when the firm sold it as it said it could not afford to update its ageing buildings. It was sold to North Carolina-based Hospital Partners of America, Inc.

In 2011, a Tennessee-based company, Iasis Healthcare and this firm merged with current owners, Steward Healthcare in 2017.

Fire House reported elevators and escalators kill about 30 and injure about 17,100 people 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 credit the first elevator being constructed by the ancient Greek engineer and inventor Archimedes. It is believed he created a crude design utilizing hemp rope and manual power in the year 236 B.C.

Since then, the design and technology has evolved and while elevators are seen today as a relatively safe mode of transport, issues still sometimes arise.

According to Crieff Law Firm, only one in 12 million elevator rides is estimated to encounter a problem. And 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 an elevator.

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here .