My wife and I went up to upstate New York last week because her grandmother died. The night of the wake, her grandfather woke up unable to breath and was sent to the hospital. While in the hospital (a small regional hospital), the hospital catches on fire (a patient set their bed on fire) and we end up helping to bring a bunch of elderly patients into the ER, which is the only part of the hospital that is smoke free. One of the patients that I bring into the ER ends up dying (fortunately the only casualty). The state police took depositions and one of the detectives implied that he expected several civil suits to be filed against the hospital. There are basically a ton of fuckups on the part of the hospital, but all of the news reports (apparently based on spin from the hospital's parent company) are saying the woman died of natural causes before the fire started. While the woman was clearly in really bad shape, my deposition and recollection of the events are that she was alive when it started and that she died in the ER during the chaos. While I'm not necessarily saying she died as a direct result of the fire, the events clearly did not help her at all.

So given this ridiculous and bizarre series of events, my question is this -- Should I contact the family of the woman who died and tell them what I saw and believe to be true, or do I just assume that they will receive all the opinions/views/depositions as a part of the police reports? I have never been involved in anything like this before, so I don't know how families receive information -- whether they get it automatically, or whether they only get it if they believe there was negligence and hire a lawyer. But all I know is that if it were my mother or grandmother in that hospital, I would want to know that they died because somebody [censored] up.

Oh yeah -- no sprinklers in the hospital ... Apparently hospitals built prior to 1980-something didn't require sprinkler systems and don't have to be retrofitted with them. Think about that one next time you're in the hospital.

Here are a couple articles from the local paper and I'm attaching what I wrote up for my deposition for those who care to read all the details.

http://www.pressrepublican.com/Archive/2004/01_2004/012620042.htm
http://www.pressrepublican.com/Archive/2004/01_2004/012520041.htm

This is, officially, the most bizarre trip of my life. This is also why jEmplode releases haven't come out in a couple of days

ms

Wow! I'm so sorry to hear about what your family had to go through and all of the other events that resulted! It was very good of you to help out like you did. I think you answered your own question though... if it was your mother, you'd like to know. I think that makes you morally obligated to contact the family. The police probably considered the hospitol's opinion to be "expert" opinion and think you were just confused (based on the chaos).

I'm shocked to hear that hospitols can be grandfathered into safety laws... wow.

Wow, that sucks. Sorry to hear of your loss.

Holy crazy crap batman. What a night! Sounds like you handled the situation well. Tell her i'm sorry for her loss, and i hope Wally is doing okay.

Both of my fathers parents died recently within months of each other. Bitter sweet... she just had no more reason to live without him.

...spin from the hospital's parent company...

That quote right there gives me the willies.

Yeah -- no doubt .. When we arrived at the second hospital, the president came down to talk with us, then the vice president came down and took a statement, then an hour or so later someone with the title of Risk Manager came down and took a statement. We were wondering why the second hospital cared so much about taking statements. Later on I found out that the second hospital owns the hospital that burned down, then it all made sense.

Both of my fathers ...

I think you mean father's

I think most legal advisers would tell you to stay out of it, but it will probably eat at you, especially if you ever find out what the hospital does tell the family.
I had a similar dilemma where one night I was driving home and a pedestrian decided to cross against the light. I hit him at about 35 mph in a Dodge RAM pick-up. A vision that will never leave my memory. He regained consciousness and his statement to the police was that he crossed against the light.Six witnesses back up the story. Over three months later I find out he died a week later due to his carotid artery being severed. Over a year later, the police take my "official" statement. Yes, a YEAR!
I've often thought of writing the widow a letter expressing my condolences and that I am sorry that fate decided to put the people involved in this situation, but common sense, and everyone I ever talked to about it says to avoid contacting the victims. Who knows what could come of it. I avoid taking that road when possible, not because of the danger, but because 5 years later, they still put flowers out at the intersection.
I would say, even though you would want to know if it's your family, stay out of it. Legal ramifications could be serious.

Did it really "burn down"? One of the articles implied only that one patient room lost.

Yeah -- Poor choice of words The fire was confined to one room. All the beds in that section are foam rubber which apparently puts off a ton of smoke, so that wing took a lot of smoke damage.