Derek Chauvin trial update: Doctor believed lack of oxygen ‘likely’ to be the reason for Floyd’s death

The doctor who provided emergency care to Floyd at Hennepin County Medical Center was the first person to testify. Dr. Bradford Wankhede Langenfeld sided with the witness Monday morning.  He had tried to revive Floyd at Hennepin County Medical Center for about 30 minutes before declaring him dead. 

When prosecutor Jerry Blackwell questioned Langenfeld, he said that under the supervision of another doctor, Dr. Ashley Strobel he “provided the majority of direct patient care” to Floyd.

Langenfeld testified that he did not receive information saying Floyd might have overdosed on drugs or suffered a heart attack by the paramedics who brought Floyd to the hospital.

Langenfeld said that there was some electrical activity around Floyd’s heart, but no pulse. His heart monitors eventually flat-lined and Floyd’s heart never resumed beating on its own “to a degree necessary to sustain life.”

Langenfeld said that if a patient spends in cardiac arrest without CPR markedly decreases the chances of a good outcome and there’s approximately a 10-15% decrease in survival rate per every minute that passes without CPR.

When Blackwell asked what would be the cause of Floyd’s cardiac arrest, Langenfeld said that he felt that hypoxia (lack of oxygen) was one of the most likely possibilities. Hypoxia, which Lagenfeld said he believed led to Floyd’s death from asphyxia.

When cross-examined by lead defense attorney Eric Nelson, Langenfeld admitted that a combination of fentanyl and methamphetamine could cause hypoxia. Floyd’s post-mortem report found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.

Answering a question from Nelson, Langenfeld testified that a “primary reason” fentanyl is so dangerous is that it depresses the respiratory system. Answering Nelson, Langenfeld acknowledged that a person could die from using fentanyl even if they had become conditioned to taking the drug.

The doctor’s testimony was very important in the trial. The prosecution is trying to show that Floyd died as a consequence of how Chauvin deterred him with a knee to the neck area while the defense is trying to show that drug use and poor heart health led to Floyd’s death.

Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for the brutal death of Floyd, a Black man on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pinned his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.