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E-mail StoryCity faces $10 million claim after police detain man suffering stroke
| Saturday, Jun 21 2008 12:00 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Jun 23 2008 7:17 AM
How do police tell the difference between a driver under the influence and a motorist who just suffered a debilitating stroke?
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Dr. Mohamad Harb (Photo courtesy Steven G. Gibbs)
Dr. Mohamad Harb (Photo courtesy Steven G. Gibbs)
That may be the $10 million question for the Bakersfield Police Department and the city of Bakersfield.
And it may be the most critical question of all arising from an incident last November during which Bakersfield police reportedly handcuffed a stroke victim and left him sitting dazed along the roadside as precious minutes ticked by.
The family of the victim, neonatal surgeon Dr. Mohamad Harb — who was still wearing surgical scrubs when the incident occurred — has filed a $10 million liability claim against the city of Bakersfield alleging police caused permanent brain damage to Harb by restraining him, possibly hitting him on the head and negligently delaying treatment for a stroke by cancelling the first ambulance crew that responded.
HIS ANGEL ARRIVES
The situation might have been made even worse had it not been for the courageous action of Registered Nurse Mehgan Coffey, who stopped, quickly assessed the situation and essentially ordered police to call back a second ambulance.
“The family thinks of her as an angel,” said the Harb family’s attorney, Steven Gibbs. “They believe there was a reason she and Dr. Harb worked together that day.”
Coffey normally works in another department, but was asked to cover Nov. 24 in Kern Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit, where the 57-year-old doctor was a specialist.
As Coffey drove toward home, she noticed two or three police cars with lights flashing stopped at 24th and Oak streets.
“I saw a man sitting on the curb with his hands handcuffed behind his back,” Coffey wrote in a witness statement.
The man was wearing a surgical scrub top and tan slacks. One shoe was off and lying in the gutter.
“The man had vomit all over the front of his shirt,” she said. “He had a very confused, glazed look on his face. Then it hit me. That was Dr. Harb.”
Coffey had worked all day at KMC alongside Harb, a longtime neonatal specialist who has cared for untold numbers of sick newborns, including premature infants and other babies born with serious medical problems.
Coffey immediately pulled over.
“I knew something was wrong and I had to help him,” she wrote.
Coffey identified herself as an RN and told police she had just spent the entire day working with the man sitting handcuffed on the curb.
“They asked me if I knew of any medications that he might have taken or if he had any medical conditions,” Coffey said.
She didn’t know the answers to those questions, but she had a question for police:
“Has an ambulance been called?” she asked.
“The female officer said, ‘One already came, but he’s going with us,’” Coffey recalled.
The nurse was outraged. An ambulance had come and gone without taking Harb to a hospital?
‘TIME LOST IS BRAIN LOST’
According to an incident report filed by Hall Ambulance Emergency Medical Technician Brian Dumont, Harb’s vital signs and blood sugar were checked and found to be normal.
According to Dumont’s report, police told the Hall crew that Harb was given two alcohol breath tests, both of which registered zero.
“(Police) chose to cancel ambulance transport,” the Hall report states. “Unable to perform neuro check due to (patient) being in handcuffs.”
For patients experiencing symptoms of stroke — including slurred speech, confusion and loss of balance — the American Stroke Association Web site warns, “Call 911 immediately if you experience symptoms! Time lost is brain lost!”
Coffey noticed Harb’s pupils were “pinpoint and sluggish to react.”
“I told the officers that another ambulance needed to get back here now and transport this man to the hospital,” she wrote.
Possibly realizing that Harb was in the midst of a medical emergency, police agreed at her request to remove his cuffs, Coffey said.
The nurse stayed with Dr. Harb until the second ambulance arrived. His gait was unsteady and he was drooling as he stood up to walk to the gurney.
Harb’s family declined to comment directly, but Gibbs said the doctor was in a coma for several days in December. He is at home and receiving nursing care and physical therapy.
Family members — Harb’s wife Fatima and their four young children — don’t want to acknowledge that he may never practice medicine again, Gibbs said. But it appears that may indeed be the reality.
THE POLICE REPORT
Bakersfield police and City Attorney Ginny Gennaro declined to comment on the facts of the case.
But a police report of the incident compiled by Officer Claudia Payne notes that she was dispatched to the scene at approximately 6:55 p.m. on Nov. 24.
Harb’s vehicle had apparently veered off the road and come to a stop on the north sidewalk of 24th Street, near Oak.
A witness contacted Harb, “delaying his flight until police arrived,” Payne wrote.
Payne reported that when she arrived Harb appeared to be disoriented and attempted to place the key to his Mercedes back in the ignition.
She removed him from the car and placed him in cuffs. His speech was “confused, thick and slurred.”
The report only mentions an “unidentified nurse” who stopped and advised that Harb had suffered a stroke two years before.
But Coffey said she didn’t know Harb before that day and knew nothing of his medical history.
The first Hall report notes that police confirmed they conducted two alcohol breath tests — but nothing of those tests are mentioned in Payne’s report.
Payne also did not note that the first ambulance was cancelled by police. There is no mention of a second ambulance in the police report.
When they arrived, the second ambulance crew reported seeing “facial droop” and other classic symptoms of a “possible stroke.”
According to a combination of the three reports, 1 hour and 3 minutes had passed between the dispatcher’s call and Harb’s arrival at the emergency room at KMC.
The city denied the family’s claim. The family has six months to file a lawsuit.