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Treating physician testifies Fernandez suffered severe brain injuries; toxicology timing limits conclusions
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Summary
Dr. Nathan Hendrickson told jurors Fernandez had multiple brain bleeds and a poor prognosis; the doctor said a toxicology draw roughly six hours after the Oct. 13 crash (05:20 a.m. Oct. 14) limits what can be inferred about intoxication at the moment of collision.
Dr. Nathan Hendrickson, a physician in residency at University Hospital, testified that Jose Fernandez suffered multiple intracranial hemorrhages and other traumatic injuries after the Oct. 13, 2023 crash and that specialists concluded his prognosis was poor.
"He had multiple brain bleeds, several different types," Hendrickson said. He described Fernandez as unresponsive with a Glasgow Coma Score of 3 during the physician’s period of care and said neurosurgery was consulted and performed interventions; clinicians later transitioned to comfort-focused care after the family and treatment teams conferred.
Hendrickson testified he authored the patient’s death note and recorded the time and date of death as Oct. 22, 2023. Asked whether anything in-hospital worsened Fernandez’s condition, he said routine surgical risk exists but that he was not aware of in-hospital events that directly caused deterioration beyond documented complications for critically injured patients.
On cross-examination, Hendrickson confirmed that toxicology testing is often performed after a patient is stabilized and that a blood draw at about 05:20 a.m. on Oct. 14—roughly six hours after an 11:47 p.m. crash—means a single later test cannot reliably indicate blood-alcohol concentration at the time of impact. The doctor said alcohol levels decline with time and that the laboratory value recorded in the hospital report (ethanol component noted as 89 mg/dL, which Hendrickson agreed corresponds to 0.089) would translate to a BAC just above the legal limit if taken as reported at the draw time, but he cautioned that it does not prove the patient’s BAC at the moment of collision.
Hendrickson also told jurors that while substances found in a toxicology screen may affect treatment decisions, they do not, in his view, explain the traumatic injuries Fernandez sustained. "I don't think they contributed to his traumatic injuries," he said. The doctor acknowledged he did not perform the autopsy and based his testimony on in-hospital records and his treatment notes.
The court allowed defense counsel to seek admission of the hospital records and toxicology evidence after the foundation was laid; parties debated relevance under a prior motion in limine and the court said it would admit records if the defense established a proper predicate.
