Portland police, hospital officials have been slow to explain the events leading to the cardiac arrest of Glenn Shipman
The South County Spotlight
Questions linger for family and friends of a Scappoose man who died while in the custody of Legacy Emanuel’s psychiatric division in August, though the mother of the man has ruled out police Taser use as a cause of his death.
“The Scappoose police, their actions had nothing to do with it,” said Elaine Shipman of Scappoose.
Elaine, 76, said she arrived at her conclusion regarding the Taser and her son’s death based on information contained within the Multnomah County medical examiner’s report.
Exactly what did happen to Elaine’s 50-year-old son, Glenn Shipman, that led to his cardiac arrest and death remains unclear.
Legacy Emanuel Hospital staff and Portland police officials have made little effort to reach out to Shipman’s mother, who began to doubt whether her son’s death was being investigated as was stated in early media reports.
When first contacted by the Spotlight in mid-October, more than a month after Glenn’s death, Elaine had not been contacted by the Portland Police Bureau, and had received only one telephone call following Glenn’s death from a nurse with Legacy Emanuel who offered to send flowers, Elaine said.
“Nobody has said anything,” she said.
Don Reese, a Multnomah County deputy district attorney, confirmed that it is an open investigation being headed by Detective John Rhodes of the Portland Police Bureau. Rhodes said he is currently reviewing Glenn’s medical records obtained from Legacy Emanuel through a district attorney subpoena.
“That’s where we’re kind of at, is just gathering as much information as we can about the case,” Rhodes said. “You can’t focus on anything in particular until you have the information.”
The police are handling the investigation at the request of the Oregon Medical Examiner’s Office, Rhodes said. The police report into Shipman’s Aug. 26 death is being held confidential as the investigation continues.
Elaine said that she received a telephone call from the hospital informing her Glenn had suffered a cardiac arrest nearly a day after it had occurred.
The news was shocking on several levels, including the revelation that injury had befallen her son while he was housed within the assumed safety of a hospital environment.
“That was part of how shocking it was,” she said.
Upon receiving the call, Elaine traveled to the Portland hospital with Jim Marud, a family friend.
Elaine hesitates to speculate on what might have caused Glenn’s death, and said she does not want to force the hospital or police into a defensive posture.
“We’re trying to work with the hospital, and I don’t want them to get defensive or anything,” she said.
Glenn was on life support and had no brain wave activity when Elaine and Marud arrived at the hospital.
Elaine said she and Marud spoke with the attending doctor while standing at Glenn’s hospital bedside. The doctor provided few details about the events leading up to Glenn’s cardiac arrest, she said.
“The only thing he said was that Glenn was very agitated and the security staff was called in, and then he said that Glenn had a cardiac arrest and stopped breathing and they weren’t able to revive him for 20 to 25 minutes,” Elaine said. “He didn’t give any details. Needless to say I was very stressed at the time, because they didn’t call us until practically a day had gone by.”
Elaine said that one possibility for why the hospital was slow to call was because Glenn was angry at the family for having been returned to the hospital.
A Legacy Emanuel spokeswoman said the hospital is prohibited from commenting on the cause of Shipman’s death due to restrictions outlined in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a 2003 piece of broadly interpreted federal legislation that trumps disclosure of just about anything on anybody when it comes to medical records.
“In general, we have full disclosure about patient outcome with patients and their families,” the spokeswoman said.
History of caring, anguish
Glenn, who is a diagnosed schizophrenic, had been staying at his mother’s house because of his mounting feelings of paranoia he felt while living by himself in a Scappoose apartment.
Elaine said he had started to believe his medication was poison and that he had stopped taking it. He had also stopped eating regular meals and was living on popcorn and canned soup, she said.
“I had him stay here because I just didn’t feel he was safe to be alone,” Elaine said. Marud said the illness contradicted Glenn’s outward demeanor. He was a calm, gentle soul, Marud said, and was referred to by friends and family alike as a “gentle giant.”
“He was really a gentle soul, he really was,” Marud said. Glenn had attended a Bible study class taught by Marud, though the relationship between the two was mostly one of friendship.
“I met him at the church we attend, and he was just a really neat, good guy,” Marud said. “It was really, more than anything, just a friendship that we had.”
Marud recounted stories of Glenn sharing Christmas with him and his family, and that they held a large homecoming celebration, complete with a singing quartet, for Glenn after his release a couple of years ago from the psychiatric ward at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital.
On the basketball court, his gentle touch translated into easy shots from three-point distance.
“He was a great big guy and kind of slow moving, but he could drain them from downtown,” Marud said of the 450-pound Glenn. On the football field, his demeanor was one of protector, not aggressor.
He was also a man of intelligence, Marud said, recounting how Glenn had a special knack for electronics.
“The guy was just way off the charts brilliant when it came to stuff like that,” Marud said. “He struggled mightily, but for a person who had such mental anguish from time to time, he dealt with it maturely, I think, and very carefully.”
On the evening of Aug. 23, Elaine called for Scappoose police assistance when Glenn began to act agitated at her house.
When police arrived, they discovered Glenn threatening to turn the power off to the house. But because he didn’t pose a threat to himself or others, the police determined, there was insufficient cause to take him into custody and they left.
A case worker from Columbia Community Mental Health called for Scappoose police assistance a second time at 10:20 p.m. This time, when police arrived they discovered Glenn acting combative.
Scappoose police Sgt. Doug Carpenter fired a Taser stun gun at Glenn, who responded by yanking the Taser prongs out of his chest. Officer Shaun Barrett fired a second Taser shot into Glenn, who wavered on his feet. While he was off balance, police tackled him and took Glenn into custody.
He was evaluated by paramedics prior to being transported to the hospital in a squad car.
Before departing, Elaine said she heard Glenn tell the police officer that he was sorry for causing a problem.
“I heard him say, I don’t want to hurt anybody, and the one officer said, I know you don’t,” Elaine said.
Elaine said she is hoping the truth comes out about the circumstances leading to her son’s death, not for the sake of vendetta, but to help protect others from experiencing a similar fate.
“I just want, like the lady who started MADD to protect other people from what happened to her daughter, and not so much a vendetta or anything like that, because that won’t bring him back anyway,” she said.
