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Catching Elevators

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Nikaidoh, 35, made sushi with the youth group at St. Vincent de Paul and volunteered on Sunday mornings giving free health care to the homeless. He ran marathons, competed in triathlons, played violin and memorized opera scores at the library.

His stepmother was hosting a yard sale the morning he died. His father, a Dallas pediatric cardiovascular surgeon, was at the office doing paperwork. The couple never considered suing, says his stepmother, Lynn Nikaidoh, until they received a call from the medical examiner's office. She says her husband was informed that alcohol was found in his son's blood, and if the family planned to sue, it was going to look bad.

Four nurses and the priest who worked with Nikaidoh in the intensive care unit until 30 minutes before he died told the family they didn't see any evidence Nikaidoh was intoxicated.

Regardless, plaintiffs' attorney Nations says it doesn't matter if Nikaidoh was drinking. "He wasn't driving the elevator," he says.

HPD officers received a statement conflicting with Steinau's from a physician who had just finished his morning rounds and stepped off a nearby elevator. The doctor, Canaan Harris, told officers in a taped interview that the elevator doors did not crush Nikaidoh, as Steinau claims. The physician says Nikaidoh forced the closing elevator doors open, and as the elevator moved upward, Nikaidoh tried to climb onto it. That's how his head got cut off, Harris told officers.

Nations says Harris is mistaken. He argues that Steinau's account is the most likely because she was standing on the elevator watching it happen, whereas Harris was walking down the hall in the opposite direction.

The weekend after Nikaidoh's death, a memorial service was held in the chapel directly beside the elevator in which he died.

A few feet down the hall, in the walkway to the emergency center across the street, hangs a picture of the Sisters of Charity and eight-by-ten glossies of the hospital's medical executive committee. Beside that are wallet-sized photos of the staff surgeons. In the bottom right-hand corner is Nikaidoh's picture. He has bright red cheeks, a lopsided grin and is wearing a white coat and his trademark bow tie.

Beneath his name, "1968-2003" has been added.

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