Honolulu EMS Sued For Wrongful Death Over Kailua Ambulance Fire
Family of the 91-year-old patient who died in 2022 after the ambulance in which he was riding burst into flames accused Honolulu EMS of wrongful death and negligence.
The estate of a 91-year-old patient who was killed in an ambulance fire in 2022 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Honolulu Emergency Services Department.
Fred Kaneshiro of Waimanalo died after an oxygen tank malfunction caused an explosion in the back of an ambulance as he was being transported to Adventist Health Castle hospital in Kailua on Aug. 24, 2022.
The lawsuit accuses Honolulu EMS of failing to provide a safe environment for patients, not using medical equipment properly and lacking adequate training for its employees on the use of oxygen cylinders and tanks.
The paramedics who were staffing the ambulance that carried Kaneshiro also were named as defendants. The lawsuit said they failed “to protect, aid, and/or rescue Mr. Kaneshiro from injury, harm, and/or the death of Mr. Kaneshiro.”
The suit also lists several medical product supply companies as defendants, saying they failed to design safe equipment and sufficient warnings about the dangers their products present. The companies, ProRack Gas Control Products, Airgas Inc., Air Liquide, Bound Tree, Meret USA and Rescue Safety Pacific Inc., did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
Shayne Enright, spokeswoman for Honolulu EMS, said the department has not yet received the lawsuit and declined to comment. Lawyers for the paramedics were not listed in court records.
The fire occurred after paramedics Peter Matsuura and Jeffrey Wilkinson responded to the Windward City Shopping Center in Kaneohe to assist Kaneshiro with a medical issue, according to the complaint, which was filed Friday in First Circuit Court on Oahu.
It said they gave him oxygen through a non-rebreather mask connected to a portable oxygen cylinder, strapped him to a gurney and loaded him into the ambulance.
While en route to the hospital, Wilkinson changed Kaneshiro鈥檚 oxygen source from the non-rebreather mask to a different type of mask that received its oxygen from a system within the ambulance rather than a portable cylinder.
As the ambulance approached the hospital parking lot, Wilkinson began to reconnect Kaneshiro to a portable oxygen source for transfer into the emergency room. When Wilkinson touched the connector of the ambulance oxygen source to the portable source鈥檚 hose, an explosion occurred followed by a bright flash and a 鈥渧iolent fire鈥 in the ambulance鈥檚 patient compartment, the complaint says.
A plexiglass panel separating the driver from the patient compartment blew out and black smoke filled the driver鈥檚 cabin. The valve of the portable oxygen cylinder was left open and the gas helped fuel the flames, acting 鈥渓ike a large flamethrower, igniting surrounding materials easily and quickly,鈥 the complaint says.
Wilkinson jumped out of the vehicle and ran toward the emergency room as Kaneshiro 鈥渞emained helpless and trapped,鈥 strapped to the gurney inside, according to the complaint.
He was pronounced dead later that day. Wilkinson suffered severe burns.
City officials said the fire was accidental.
In March of the following year, Honolulu EMS released the results of a third-party investigation conducted by medical consulting nonprofit ECRI.
Investigators found that contaminants, such as oil, grease or dirt, in the oxygen tank or valve, may have contributed to the explosion, and they offered two theories for what may have sparked the blast.
One was adiabatic compression or the 鈥済as hammer effect,鈥 which happens when oxygen rushes into a device鈥檚 regulator or hose and creates a momentary spike in pressure and heat, potentially igniting contaminants within the system.
The other explanation was particle impact, which can happen when oxygen leaves its cylinder too quickly, forcing out contaminants and metallic flakes that collide into other surfaces.
Honolulu EMS changed its policies after the incident and began instructing paramedics to open oxygen tanks slowly, turn on an exhaust fan when using the gas and switch a patient鈥檚 oxygen tanks only when the ambulance is parked and the doors are open.
Kaneshiro’s niece, Roberta Kinoshita, described her uncle in an email as “quiet, soft spoken and reserved.”
He was born on Maui and had three sisters and two brothers, she wrote. He acquired a farm in Waimanalo in the early 1950s where he and his mother grew watermelon, winter melon, corn, soybeans, bananas and papayas. He lived on the farm up until his death.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.
Read the lawsuit below:
