WARWICK — The first time the charge nurse looked at Michael Woods’ hospital chart was an hour after he died, she testified Tuesday.

The nurse, Vicki Noon, was in charge of coordinating the emergency room nurses at Kent Hospital on July 26, 2006, the day Woods came in complaining of a sore throat and vomiting. As he went to another department for an x-ray, Noon testified, she reassigned his room to another patient, as was common practice. But, she said, she made no effort to find out about Woods’ medical status before making the decision, an omission that she agreed was “irresponsible.”

Woods died from a heart attack later that day as he lay in a hallway on a hospital gurney a few feet away from a nurse’s station. Woods’ brother, actor James Woods, has filed a negligence suit against the hospital.

On Monday, Noon said that her job was to be the air traffic controller of the emergency room, and that she may not always know the condition of every patient in the emergency room.

“I can only make a decision based on the information available to me,” Noon said. “In a perfect world, I would know, but this is real life.”

Woods arrived at Kent Hospital around 4:25 p.m. and, after being interviewed by a triage nurse and a doctor, was moved to the treatment unit to get more tests. At 5:44 p.m., he has an electrocardiogram that shows an abnormal heartbeat and a possible infarction — a lack of oxygen significant to kill body tissue. When he returned to the treatment area, Noon had assigned another patient to his room and Woods’ gurney was parked in a hallway next to the nurse’s station. At 7:10, he suffered a seizure caused by the blocked artery, and 25 minutes later, Woods was declared dead.

About an hour later, Dr. Kelli A. Naylor, the doctor who treated Woods, came up to Noon and showed her the physician order sheet, which shows which tests and procedures a patient was supposed to receive.

“I was surprised,” Noon said. “I hadn’t known it was ordered.”

Noon said it was the first time that she saw the chart, or learned that Woods should have been monitored. If she had known that Woods was supposed to be on a heart monitor, Noon testified, she would not have reassigned his room, or allowed him to lay in a bed in the hallway unmonitored.

Jurors also heard from Dr. Robert Heinl, a doctor at Kent Hospital who was working in the medical care unit the night Woods died. That unit is for patients with serious or high-risk illnesses and injuries. Heinl testified that he saw a group of people walking hurriedly through his unit with a patient laying on a stretcher. He went over to Naylor and asked if there was anything he could do to help. She told him no, so, he said, he went back to treating his patients.

He also testified that for patients who should be in the medical care unit, including those with warning signs for heart trouble, if a bed is not available, every effort is made to provide the necessary treatment, including heart monitoring, in another unit.

Dr. Jeffrey Garrett, a Pittsburgh cardiologist, is expected to retake the stand Wednesday morning.

tbuford@projo.com