I was an attendant at the mental hospital. I was instructed by a nurse to take a patient down on the elevator to lower floor. Patient, often violent, was lying on a roll-away table (similar to type used in operating rooms). I felt a vague sensation of fear and lack of confidence in my ability to handle the task in event of an emergency, but I agreed to carry out the instructions. We entered the elevator, with me in the elevator was another attendant (not considered dependable by me) and a trustee patient. We began to descend, and I began to wonder what would happen if the bottom fell out of the elevator; suddenly the floor of the elevator opened (similar to the bomb bays in an airplane), and we all fell through. All of us, except the patient, managed to hang onto ledges in the elevator shaft; the other attendant and I were hanging on to the patient at the same time. Both the patient and the trustee were hysterical, shouting, crying, and struggling violently; I remember a definite feeling of disgust, and I thought to myself, isn't this typical of human beings. You can never depend on them for anything -- not even to the extent of making their personal rescue easier.