spine

Bangalore

Doctors advise you to avoid the lift and take the stairs for the sake of our heart. But after these lift-related accidents in Frazer Town, you might start heeding their advice for your overall well-being.In November, three law students suffered grievous injuries when their hotel’s lift cable snapped and the lift car came hurtling down (the hotel owner had got it installed by some unauthorised persons to cut costs). And now, a 47-year-old man had hisbroken and legs fractured when the lift door opened on the fourth floor but there was no lift car; without noticing anything amiss, he walked in to plunge 40 feet and land on top of the lift car which was still stuck on the ground floor.The victim has been identified as P Barthalom, a resident of Chikkabyrathi in Kothanur. The incident happened at the Meridian Medical Centre located on Standage Road at Fraser Town. Barthalom’s father Phillip, 74, was admitted in the hospital on January 16 due to some illness and was being treated on the fourth floor.The victim, who was with his father during the admission process, went home and returned to the hospital the next day and that’s when the accident happened.“Barthalom had used the lift to go to the fourth floor. The doctors examining his father gave him a prescription asking him to get the medicine. He summoned the lift by pressing the button. The victim has claimed that after he pressed the button, the doors opened and assuming that the lift car was there, he stepped in and fell inside the lift well from a height of 40 feet,” said an officer, based on Barthalom’s statement.After hearing the sound, the hospital staff pulled him out from the lift door on the first floor of the hospital.As it was a medico legal case, the jurisdictional Pulakeshinagar police were informed about the incident. The police came to the spot and after examining the scene of the accident recorded statements of the victim, his family members and the hospital authorities. A complaint against the hospital was filed on Saturday.However, Imran, the hospital’s HR Manager, blamed Barthalom for the incident. “After he pressed the lift door button, the lift car which was on the ground floor did not come up as the lift doors on the ground floor had not shut.He then applied all his might and opened the lift door by himself and assuming that the car was on the fourth floor, stepped inside and fell. We co-ordinated with the police when they visited the spot,” Imran said.He added that the doors of the lift are not automatic and can be opened manually only when the lift car arrives. He claimed that the hospital was taking care of Barthalom’s treatment expenses and that he had recently been shifted to the general ward from the ICU.Barthalom’s wife Shobha toldMirror that her husband is being treated as an inpatient at the same hospital where her father-in-law was admitted before.“After the incident, my husband told me that after he pressed the lift button, the doors opened and he assuming that the lift car was there, stepped in and fell inside the lift well and landed on the lift car. He has hurt his spinal cord, legs and has injuries on other parts of the body as well. My husband was then pulled up from the first floor and was rushed to the ICU. His condition is still critical and has insurance cover for the treatment,” she said, adding that the hospital’s version of her husband force-opening the door was all bunkum.The Pulakeshinagar police have registered a case of causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others under section 338 of the Indian Penal Code.