Hospital claims it’s not responsible for student’s death

‘Immediately upon arrival at St. Joseph’s, Mr. Al-Hasnawi was vital signs absent’: Statement of defence

YOSIF AL-HASNAWI was without vital signs “immediately upon arrival” at hospital, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton has revealed in its response to the $10-million lawsuit filed by the Good Samaritan’s family. The hospital says in its statement of defence it is not responsible for the 19-year-old Brock University student’s death after he was shot a single time in the stomach Dec. 2. The Al-Hasnawi family claims Yosif would not have died were it not for the “negligence” of police, paramedics and the hospital. Police, who were first on scene, thought he’d been shot with a BB gun, and paramedics, who arrived minutes later, allegedly accused Yosif of faking his injury, the family says. Sitting in his home, surrounded by pictures of his oldest child, Majed Al-Hasnawi said he remembers yelling at one of the paramedics in hospital after Yosif died. “I started shouting, ‘Do you believe him now? Do you believe him now?’ I said it many times.” Yosif Al-Hasnawi was conscious when paramedics loaded him into the ambulance; he whispered to his dad, “I can’t breathe,” before being driven away, allegedly without lights and sirens. It took 38 minutes from the time paramedics arrived on scene to when the ambulance arrived at St. Joseph’s. By that point, he had no vital signs, according to the hospital’s statement of defence, which provides the clearest timeline of events surrounding Yosif ’s death thus far.

“Notwithstanding heroic measures” undertaken by doctors, he was pronounced dead in hospital 19 minutes later, at 9:58 p.m., the hospital said in the statement. What happened during that approximately 2.6-kilometre ambulance ride? When did he stop breathing? Could paramedics or doctors have done more? Along with the statement of defence, St. Joseph’s lawyer, Wayne Morris, filed a cross claim alleging the co-defendants, including police and paramedics, and not the hospital, were negligent and that any legal costs or amounts judged owing should be paid by the co-defendants. After the homicide, Majed travelled to his homeland of Iraq, to bury his son at Wadi-us-Salaam (Valley of Peace) — an Islamic cemetery in Najaf. He was gone for a month and a half, keeping busy. But since returning, Majed said, grief has caught up with him. “The pain is here ... his pictures are here, his books,” Majed said. “Most of the things in the house. We haven’t moved them.” Yosif was quiet, an artist with beautiful handwriting. He loved everything about space and could fix phones, computer or televisions, making money selling repaired electronics online. He was a talented boxer, practising at the Steel Town Boxing Club since he was 10, when the family moved to Hamilton from Chicago. Yosif had started studying at Brock University in September and planned to become a doctor. “He’d wake early 4:30, pray, ready the holy Qur’an ... I heard him every day,” Majed said. “I’d see him come in the door the earliest 5 p.m., tired and exhausted.” His second home was the Al-Moustafa Islamic Centre, on Main Street East near Wentworth Street South, where he had been attending a religious celebration Dec. 2. His 13-year-old brother, Ahmed, was with him when Yosif chased after two men who were harassing an older man — later revealed by police to be a 66-year-old. One of those men allegedly turned and shot Yosif, leaving him lying on the sidewalk on Sanford Avenue South. Ahmed ran into a nearby convenience store to call 911. “I thought he was going to be safe if I called the ambulance,” Ahmed said. When Majed ran outside, he said he was initially stopped by police, but then beckoned forward by paramedics. “‘Tell him he’s OK and stop acting,’” he recalls a paramedic saying. But as soon as Majed got close to his son, he said it was clear something was seriously wrong. He was in pain, could barely speak. Yet despite repeated pleas to take Yosif to hospital faster, he says the paramedics stood around, talking with witnesses and accusing Yosif of faking. The family says they didn’t see any medical care, other than wiping the wound. His brothers allege the paramedics were pulling Yosif up to try to get him to stand. At one point, a paramedic asked what substances Yosif may have taken. “I said, ‘No, no he doesn’t take any drugs, he’s a medical student,’” Majed recalled. Then another paramedic allegedly replied back, ‘“If he’s a medical student, he wouldn’t be here.’” When paramedics finally took him away, refusing 15-year-old brother Mahdi’s request to ride along, police told Majed to go to St. Joseph’s. He drove himself and sat in a waiting room for only a few minutes before being told Yosif was dead. Susan von Achten, lawyer for the Al-Hasnawi family, said they’ve hired the firm Marshall Elery and Associates to do an independent investigation. Witnesses are asked to contact Michael Maciuk 647-495-8335. The two unnamed paramedics who responded that night are also under criminal investigation by Niagara Regional Police at the request of Hamilton police. Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, still hasn’t made a decision on whether this case meets its mandate, spokesperson Monica Hudon said. In addition, the Ministry of Health is investigating under the Ambulance Act, and Hamilton Paramedic Service has promised an internal investigation. Also named in the lawsuit are Dale Burningsky King, the alleged shooter charged with second-degree murder, and James Matheson, charged with accessory after the fact. Majed said he’s happy they were caught, but doesn’t want to attend court to see them. “They are thugs. I don’t even care about them.”