Ellis family looks for cause of death

Buck Wargo

GLENDALE - Questions surrounding the death last week of legendary

Glendale auto dealer Jack Ellis have prompted his wife to pay for a

private autopsy.

The autopsy was performed at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los

Angeles. Ellis, 67, died Dec. 2 at the Los Angeles hospital after being

transferred there following prostate cancer surgery in November at

Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Ellis’ wife, Margaret, had the autopsy done to help pin down the cause

of his death. Results of the autopsy were not released. Her attorney,

Michael O’Flaherty of Woodland Hills, said his office is compiling Jack

Ellis’ medical records as part of the investigation into the cause of

death.

The Ellis family has taken no legal action and is not planning any,

O’Flaherty said, though he added that much could change in 30 days once

the autopsy results are in.

“Before we make any accusations, we want to do a dispassionate review

of medical records. They tell 90% of the story,” O’Flaherty said. “I am

going to obtain a complete copy of the records and meet with specialists

in the field of their surgery. To say this is medical malpractice is not

fair.

“She [Margaret Ellis] wants to find out what happened. She is not a

litigious person. She would only bring a lawsuit if she truly felt

malpractice caused the death of her husband.”

Autopsies are done for accidents, murders and other cases of

suspicious or unnatural death. Otherwise, death certificates are signed

by doctors for natural causes. If a family wants to hire a private

investigator to do an independent autopsy, they have the right to do so.

Only the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office can certify the cause of

death if it’s anything other than natural causes, coroner’s office

spokesman Scott Carrier said.

The family could have asked the coroner’s office to do the autopsy if

they were suspicious, Carrier said. “They could have saved themselves a

lot of money.” Glendale Adventist spokeswoman Alicia Gonzalez said the

hospital couldn’t talk about the Ellis case because of the

confidentiality rights of the family.

“Hospital officials will not be releasing any information regarding

the hospitalization of Jack Ellis,” she said. “The hospital expresses its

deepest condolences to the family during this difficult time.” Ellis

had the surgery in mid-November and was transferred for follow-up care to

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, O’Flaherty said. He said he

did not know why Ellis was transferred.

O’Flaherty called Glendale Adventist a good hospital. He said it

remains unclear whether Ellis’ time in the Glendale hospital or

Cedar-Sinai contributed to his death.

“Whether it is attributed to fault or bad luck, the medical records

and experts will have to tell us,” O’Flaherty said.

Margaret Ellis said she had medical examiners at Cedars-Sinai do the

autopsy and is waiting to learn the results. She said the death has been

difficult on her family. She referred further comments O’Flaherty.

“The autopsy just tells the findings. It is a smaller part of the

picture,” he said.

Ellis and his wife had two sons, 11 and 14. The oldest son, Jackson,

spoke during his father’s funeral.

“He read a letter that was a real tearjerker,” O’Flaherty. “With his

mom’s permission, he put it in Jack’s casket. He said we are going to

find out why this happened. There is a definite strong desire to find out

what happened.”

Barry Zepel, a Cedars-Sinai spokesman, declined to comment.