Free Statement - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

Exhibit A (Dr. Hany Hannallah Deposition)

Case 2:04-cv-00259-EHC-DKD

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Filed 04/04/2008

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SUPERIOR COURT OF ARIZONA
MARICOPA COUNTY

DAMES JOHN HADGES,
Plaintiff,
vs.

)
) NO. CV-04-0259-PHX-EHC(DKD)

MARICOPA COUNTY, et al.,
Defendants. )

)

TELEPHONIC DEPOSITION OF HANY HANNALLAH,

scottsdale, Arizona April 4, 2008

By:

Certified Reporter Certificate No. 50260

MARY BARRY,

RPR,

CRR

Prepared for:
THE COURT

INDEX TO EXAMINATIONS

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WITNESS
HANY HANNALLAH, M.D.

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PAGE

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Examination by Mr. Strohm Examination by Mr. Seplow Further Examination by Mr. Strohm

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INDEX TO EXHIBITS
NO. DESCRIPTION
NONE

MARKED

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TELEPHONIC DEPOSITION OF HANY HANNALLAH, M.D.
was taken on April 4, 2008, commencing at 2:00 p.m., at

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the law offices of Richard L. strohm, p.c, 8121 East

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Indian Bend Road, Suite 128, Arizona, before MARY BARRY, Certified Reporter No. 50260 for the State of Arizona.
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The witness appeared via telephonic communi cati ons.

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APPEARANCES:

For the Plaintiff: Mr. Philip A.

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2000 North Seventh street

Seplow, Attorney at Law

Phoenix, Arizona 85006-2307 (Appearing telephonically)

For the Defendants Maricopa county and Sheriff Joseph Arpaio: By Mr. Richard L. Strohm 8121 East Indian Bend Road, Scottsdale, Arizona 85250
LAW OFFICES OF RICHARD L. STROHM, P.C.

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suite 128

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HANY HANNALLAH,

M.D.,

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called as a witness herein, having been first duly sworn by the Certified Reporter to speak the truth and nothing but the truth, was examined and testified as follows:

EXAMINATION

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BY MR.

STROHM:

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Q.

Dr. Hannallah, I'm going to dispense with the

usual formalities because we're under a time constraint
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here.

I just have a few questions for you.
Can you hear me all right?

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A.

Yes.

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Q.
a.

You are a medical doctor?
Yes.

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Q.
Arizona, A.

And you're licensed to practice medicine in
correct? Correct.

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Q.
correct?

And you were so licensed in October of 2002,

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A.

Yes, correct.

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Q.

And in October of 2002 you saw a patient by the

name of Dames John Hadges, isn't that true?
A. That is true.

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Q.

i sent over a chart note for you to review.

Do

you have the chart note with you?

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A.

Yes, I have it.

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q.

And is that a true and accurate copy of the chart

note that you prepared at the time that you examined
Mr. Hadges? A. Yes, sir, correct.

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Q.

I take it, because there's only one chart note

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for you, that there is only one visit that you had with
Mr. Hadges, that was on October 4th of 2002, is that
true? A. That's correct.

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Q.

And at no time did you schedule surgery for him,

is that true?

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A.

No, I did not schedule any surgery for him.
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Q.

You never scheduled any surgery for James John

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Hadges, did you?

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A.
Q.

No, never scheduled any surgery.
okay.

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in October of 2002 did you have surgical
privileges?
A. no.

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Q.

And in October 4th of 2002 did you have any

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opinion when you saw him and prepared that note, Exhibit 1 we'll call it, did you have an opinion as to whether
surgery was indicated?

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A.

Yes.

And that is explained in that progress

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note.

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Q.

Okay.

And I take it from reading the note that

you thought that it might be a good idea to have surgery, and then you referred him to a board certified surgeon

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for a surgical evaluation, which is protocol, is that
true?

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a.

That's correct.

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Q.

is it also true that you did not sign any

transport order for surgery for the plaintiff, for
Mr. Hadges? A. no, I didn't.

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Q.

You did not?

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A.

no, I did not.

I just suggested to be

transferred on an emergency basis to the Maricopa Medical
Center. My progress note mentioned it, but I didn't sign

any transportation.

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Q.

Right.

And the idea that ~ what your motivation
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was,

I believe, is that you wanted him to be seen by a

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board certified surgeon who would then make the decision as to whether surgery would be indicated and done? A. Exactly. The goal is not to make him miss the

boat should the orthopedist like to operate as quickly as possible. So if they make that decision, so at least I'm

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trying to save him any time without wasting any further
time from the time I saw him.

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Q.

Right.

And did you create any order that

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basically said that the plaintiff should haven't anything to eat or drink in order to save time so that if
surgery --

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A. Q.

No, no, I didn't mention that. Okay.

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Did you know that Dr. Robert Kaye, K-a-y-e,

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had already seen plaintiff, excuse me, Mr. Hadges, in
September of 2002?
A. no, I didn't know that.

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q.

okay.

You didn't know that Dr. Kaye had

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recommended surgery to plaintiff and the plaintiff didn't
consent to it? A. no, no, I didn't know at all.

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Q.

okay.

Did you tell Mr. Hadges that he in fact

was going to have surgery, or did you tell him that he
would just be evaluated for treatment course by a board
certified surgeon?

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A.

I think I explained to him the injuries, and I

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told him that there is high probabilities with these

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injuries that they need surgical treatment,
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timing is different, obviously, because we were 23 days,

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so that makes it a little bit more potential.

And

obviously I told him I want to release him as quickly as possible so we don't want to waste any more time, should

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the surgical person like to operate.

So, you know, we

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don't have -- they don't say, well, if I saw him a week
ago or whatever, it makes no difference, we want just to

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be on a very timely manner,
Q. okay.

so I explained that to him.

But you never told him that you had made

the decision to schedule him for surgery?

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A.

no, no.

Not at all, obviously, because I'm not

surgical orthopedist I don't mention that at all. MR. STROHM: the questions I have.
MR. SEPLOW: THE WITNESS: MR. seplow: Philip Seplow. Good, thanks. Just a couple follow-ups if I How are you?

Thank you, Doctor, those are all

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THE WITNESS:

Okay.

EXAMINATION

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BY MR.

SEPLOW:

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Q.

Did you ever tell Mr. Hadges that you were going

to pull some strings so he could get surgery right away? A.
Q.

I'm sorry, I didn't really get your question.
Sure, I'll say it again.

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Did you ever tell Mr. Hadges that you would

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pull a few springs.

Pull a few strings is an expression

that we use sometimes to get rid of red tape.
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Did you tell him that you would pull a few strings so he could go to surgery right away.
A. And I'm sorry, what is the meaning of red tape?

I'm totally not understanding.

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Q.

Oh, boy.

Okay.

The expression pull a few

strings means I'm going to get -- I'm going to leave out some people in the middle management, I'm going to go

right to the top and I'm going to get something done. Did you ever tell James Hadges that you were going to go right to the top and get him surgery right
away?

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A.

No, I don't think so.

I told him just exactly

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as the progress note said.

I said just I want to send

him to the Maricopa Medical Center as quickly as possible

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so he can have the best chance to be evaluated for that potential surgical treatment, and that's it, yeah.
Q. So up until right now you never heard the

expression pull a few strings?

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A. Q.

No, to be honest with you, I never did. Okay. And I think Mr. Strohm already asked you,

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but you didn't sign any order saying that he shouldn't eat or drink because he was going to have surgery the next
day, is that correct?
A. No, no, no.

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Q.

Do you have any idea why he would have the

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opinion or he actually states that you told him that you
were going to get him into surgery?
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A.

I cannot tell you.

Obviously sometimes, you

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know, he may just really understood that surgery is, could
be, you know, explanation. is a chance. I really don't have a clear

I'm just saying that maybe his own But I never told him definitely because

interpretation.

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obviously I'm not surgical and I'm not going to tell him that I'm doing an operation that's -- you know, that I don't practice surgical part of orthopedics, so

obviously, no, I cannot tell you, I don't have any
explanation for that.

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Q.
A.

And you only met with him once,
Yes, on October 4th, 2002.

right?

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Q.

Did you get to read his chart before you met with

him at all? A. You mean now before I --

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Q.
A.

No, back on October 4th, I guess, of 2000 -No. Typically we have a blank progress note, we

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take history, we examine the patient, we look at x-rays, and then we put down an evaluation. So I don't have

really any charts except my blank progress note and my
x-rays.

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Q.

Okay.

Well, so basically what you're saying is

you never ordered emergency surgery for Mr. Hadges, is

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that right?

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A.

No.

And I never do that, because obviously the And only thing I

surgery itself is the surgical person.

can try to do when I see that there is potential indication, I expedite the patient to be seen by the surgeon who's going to perform the potential surgery.
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Q. A.

Did you do that in this case? Yes, that's what I recommended, by the

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administration to send him on emergency basis to Maricopa Medical Center for hospitalization and evaluation for that
purpose, with that potential treatment. MR. SEPLOW:
have. THE WITNESS: okay.

Okay,

well, I guess that's all I

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MR. strohm:

i just have one follow-up in

response to Mr. Seplow's question.

FURTHER EXAMINATION

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BY MR.

STROHM:

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Q.

Your intention was to make sure that whatever

opportunity he had to have his best outcome was not

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wasted, so you were interested in speeding that long, but
you did not schedule a surgery yourself, true? A. That's absolutely correct and true statement.

The statement is absolutely correct.

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MR. STROHM:

Thank you, sir, that's all I

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THE WITNESS:
MR. SEPLOW:

Okay.
Thank you.

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MR. STROHM: you this,

Before you hang up I have to tell

you have the opportunity to read what we have

just discussed -- THE WITNESS: okay.

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MR. strohm:

-- and sign, or you can simply
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waive your signature and it will become part of the record

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