Trainer Testifies in Gathers Case : Jurisprudence: Former Loyola trainer identifies doctor as saying Gathers had pulse before being moved.

The former trainer for Loyola Marymount University identified the voice of defendant Dr. Ben Shaffer as saying that Hank Gathers had “a very faint pulse” when he was outside the gymnasium where he collapsed while playing in a basketball game, March 4, 1990.

Chip Schaefer, now the trainer for the Chicago Bulls, identified Shaffer’s voice from an audiotape that recorded the sounds of the doctors and others who attended to Gathers the night of his death. The audiotape was built in to the school’s defibrillator and began recording when the device was opened outside the gym.

Schaefer’s testimony is important because an issue in the case has been Shaffer’s decision to move Gathers instead of treating him on the court. Shaffer’s attorneys contend that Gathers’ condition was stable and that he had a pulse and was being moved to a more controlled environment for treatment. Shaffer is scheduled to testify this afternoon.

Shortly after Shaffer said there was a faint pulse, an unidentified voice on the tape said, “I can’t feel a pulse.” The statement is followed by a scream that had earlier been identified as Gathers’ mother, Lucille, who was standing nearby.

Shaffer, the game’s doctor on-duty from the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Group, and Dan Hyslop, the staff physician at Loyola, are being sued by the Gathers family for alleged negligence in treating Gathers at the scene, which they say caused them emotional distress.

Schaefer, who kept the school’s defibrillator courtside, was the first to reach Gathers but did not take the defibrillator with him. When he reached Gathers, Schaefer said that Gathers was having difficulty breathing and he did not get a verbal response from him. Seconds later, when Dr. Shaffer arrived he told Schaefer to get the stretcher from the training room, so that Gathers could be taken there.

When Schaefer returned with the stretcher about one minute later, he said Gathers’ condition had noticeably deteriorated and he ran and got the defibrillator.

Loyola purchased the defibrillator after Gathers’ first collapse on Dec. 9, 1989, and was subsequently treated for rapid heartbeat. A defibrillator is a devise that shocks the heart back into a normal rhythm.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Ralph Gambardella of Kerlan-Jobe, who helps supervise the orthopaedists who attend Loyola’s home games, said that when he learned the school had purchased a defibrillator he told his doctors they were not to be involved with learning how to use it, but could be involved in a decision to use it. Gambardella said it was his understanding that Schaefer would be responsible for operating the device.

Schaefer said he was adequately trained in the use of the defibrillator and believes he used it properly on Gathers. Schaefer is expected to complete his testimony this morning.