Fort Worth

John Peter Smith Hospital Employee Hurt in Elevator Accident; Inspectors Expected Tuesday

State regulators are expected to inspect a hospital elevator Tuesday that injured an employee Sunday morning.

Officials with John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth confirmed a female employee was seriously hurt Sunday in an elevator accident, but refused to confirm any other details about what took place.

JPS says the employee was injured in one of the purple patient tower elevators when it was stopped on the 10th floor.

In a statement, hospital officials said the elevator has been taken out of service until state regulators can perform an inspection. With Monday being a holiday, inspectors were not expected to arrive until sometime Tuesday.

"She is receiving the best care possible from our medical team and we ask for your continued prayers for her and her family," said JPS president and CEO Robert Earley in a statement released to employees and NBC 5.

He also cautioned employees against spreading rumors about what may have happened during the incident.

"On Sunday, the elevator contractor completed inspections of elevators in the main building, TSP and the Patient Care Pavilion and will continue inspections to include the JPOC elevators," said the statement. "Today, the contractor is on site to repair the two red elevators in the main building that have been out of service since last week."

Officials with the Fort Worth Fire Department said they were called to the hospital at 7:48 a.m. for an elevator rescue but that by the time they arrived they were told a rescue was no longer needed and that the injured person was transferred to the emergency room.

Due to HIPAA regulations, the hospital can not release any information about the employee or their condition.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation is in charge of inspecting elevators. The department told NBC 5 their inspectors have been notified there was an incident and have opened an investigation.

NBC 5 searched the most recent inspections of the elevator in question and found it was last inspected in April 2018 and was to be inspected again in April 2019.

The electric elevator was installed in 1993 and serviced 11 floors at JPS.

NBC 5's Maria Guerrero contributed to this report.

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