KENTUCKY: FRIED Part 5 – A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING

The 52nd Round

(NOTE: The “Q & A” passages in these reports, as well as the direct quotes, are a product of a deposition taken from Dr. Manuel Mediodia, dated October 25, 2002)

The rather remarkable dialogue you're about to read took place between Doug Morris, an attorney for Greg Page, and Dr. Manuel Mediodia, and was taken verbatim from Mediodia's October 25, 2002 deposition. It is unedited, and more or less speaks for itself:

“Q – All right. We've talked before about the conversation that you had about Greg Page and taking blows to the head and so forth. It's fair to say that you can anticipate that an individual participating in a boxing match is going to receive blows to the head; correct sir?

A – Yes, sir.

Q – And one of the objectives in the boxing match is to try to knock out your opponent; correct, sir?

A – Yes, sir.

Q – Is it fair to say that you can anticipate before a boxing match – that you, as a physician, can anticipate a high probability of head injury to the participants?

A – Yes, sir.

Q – And is it fair to say that in order to be prepared to deal with such injuries, it's necessary to have resuscitation equipment available at ringside?

A – Yes, sir.

Q – And is it fair to say that in order to be prepared to deal with such injuries it would be necessary to have available for immediate access ambulance services or other transportation services to take a participant to the hospital?

A – Yes, sir.

Q – And is it fair to say that you know that if someone sustains a serious head injury, that they should be transferred to a major trauma center that can handle head injuries?

A – Yes, sir.

Q – Now, did you do anything on the night of March the 9th, 2001 to assure yourself that oxygen was available at ringside?

A – No.

Q – Was there any oxygen available at ringside?

A – I don't know.

Q – As of today's date, as we sit here today, do you know whether there was any oxygen
available at ringside?

A – There was no oxygen available.

Q – When did you learn that?

A – Before I went into the ring, I was – I talked to one of the go-fers at Peel's Palace. I said, I think we'll need some oxygen up here. He didn't even answer me. He kept walking around, so I said there was something wrong here. So I went up there, and there was no oxygen, but I thought he (Page) was going to be all right. He looked – he was breathing normally. His ABC's were good. There was no need of giving him anything at all.

Q – His ABC's meaning?

A – Meaning airway – his mouth was clear – his breathing was unhurried, and his circulation was good – blood pressure, pulse, heart rate was good.

Q – Now, let's go back to where we started with this question. I asked you when you first learned that no oxygen was available, and I think you told me that it was after Greg Page was knocked down in the tenth round of his bout, when you got ready to go into the ring, that you said a go-fer at Peel's Palace, I think we're going to need some oxygen; is that correct?

A – That's right.

Q – And in fact, you didn't even look. At that point in time you talked to a person who was a go-fer; is that correct?

A – Right.

Q – Do you know the name of that go-fer?

A – I don't know, but I think he had a pigtail on the back of his head. He's a dark-haired young man.

Q – Do you know what his official title was?

A – I don't know. To me, he was just one of the waiters or guys serving beer and taking money from the customers, I believe. I'm not sure about that either, but I got to see him earlier and I nodded to him, and I thought he recognized me as the doctor. I had my stethoscope around my neck.

Q – What made you think that this waiter or go-fer or whatever he was would know anything about oxygen and –

A – I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure.

Q – Did you check with anyone else at Peel's Palace that night, other than that go-fer, to find out if oxygen was available?

A – No, sir.

Q – Did you look anywhere in Peel's Palace to see if oxygen was available?

A – No, sir.

Q – What did you do on the night of March 9th to make sure that an ambulance service was immediately available in the event of a head injury?

A – Nothing.”

That's absolutely correct – NOTHING.

There was a lot of that going around that night.

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