Verdict Ends 5-Year Ordeal for 2 Anaheim Paramedics

For city paramedic Larry Waterhouse, an Orange County Superior Court jury’s verdict means he can stop reliving an emergency call five years ago to the city’s Convention Center complex, where a Ventura man had collapsed and stopped breathing.

Last week, the jury found that Waterhouse and his partner, Richard Chavez, were not negligent when they inserted a breathing tube into the 50-year-old man who later died.

The family of John E. Taylor Jr., which brought the lawsuit against the city of Anaheim seeking millions of dollars in damages, was awarded nothing when the unanimous verdict was returned Friday.

“If I ever had to go through this again, I’d quit,” Waterhouse said Wednesday, referring to the years of canceled court dates and testimony, culminating in the 11-day trial. “I feel sorry for the family losing a loved one. . . . We don’t save them all.”

Attorney Mel Seifert, whose private law firm represented the city in the case, said the family originally submitted a $25-million claim against the city after Taylor’s death.

The lawsuit charged that Taylor had died needlessly after suffering an apparent heart attack because city paramedics inserted a breathing tube into his esophagus instead of his windpipe.

Taylor collapsed at a trade show at the Anaheim Convention Center in January, 1986, and was treated at the scene by Waterhouse and Chavez. Taylor was hospitalized in a coma and died about three months later, never regaining consciousness.

Seifert said the paramedics had acted properly and that Taylor’s condition was beyond help by the time Waterhouse and Chavez arrived to care for him.

“Mr. Taylor had gone into complete cardiac arrest,” Seifert said. “He had been without oxygen for quite a while. (The paramedics) did nothing wrong.”

Early in the trial, Dr. Tom Brug man, a Ventura internist who treated the comatose Taylor, testified that the problem that led to Taylor’s death was primarily a lack of oxygen to the brain in the minutes after his collapse.

Brugman, who testified for the family, said the breathing problem “may have been caused by an improperly performed procedure at the convention center by paramedics trying to get air to his lungs.”

Neither the family’s attorney, Robert Packer, nor Taylor’s widow, Barbara Taylor, could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Seifert said the jury’s decision vindicates the paramedics.

“They were upset that anyone could think they did something inappropriate when they knew they did everything correctly,” he said.

Waterhouse said he was informed of the jury’s decision Monday.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Waterhouse said. “It’s been stressful for both of us. You’re afraid--what if the jury didn’t see it our way? It’s very stressful.”

Waterhouse, 31, said he and Chavez, 34, continued to work while the case was pending.

Since the lawsuit was filed, Waterhouse said he has been dogged by thoughts of the incident and questions from lawyers, probing for details of the emergency.

“I remember all the things, all the details,” Waterhouse said. “I feel like a big weight has been lifted from me.”

Western Medical Center-Anaheim, where Taylor was brought by ambulance after his collapse, was initially a defendant in the lawsuit. An unspecified settlement was reached with the hospital before trial. Seifert estimated that the cost of defending the city would probably amount to more than $20,000 in legal fees.